Lionel Messi And Erling Haaland On 30-Man Shortlist For 2023 Ballon d'Or Award

A 30-player shortlist for the 2023 men's Ballon d'Or was published by the award's organizers on Wednesday. Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland were both nominees.

A 30-player shortlist for the 2023 men's Ballon d'Or was published by the award's organizers on Wednesday.

Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne were all among the nominees for the prize, which will be presented to the winner in Paris on October 30.

Messi - who is already a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner - is seen by many as the favorite to top the final vote after he captained Argentina to global glory at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar late last year.

Three other 2022 World Cup winners have been nominated, in the shape of Emiliano Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.

Lionel Messi has won the men's Ballon d'Or award seven times and is widely tipped to win it again :: IMAGO/agefotostock/Photoshot/Xinhua/Avalon

But Messi's main rival for the award is likely to be Erling Haaland, after the Norway striker scored 52 goals in 53 games for Manchester City last season to fire the club to a famous treble.

Haaland would be the first Norwegian man ever to win a Ballon d'Or. However, Norway striker Ada Hegerberg won the Ballon d'Or Feminin in 2018.

Of the 30 nominees, 27 currently play their club football in Europe. Two - Karim Benzema and Yassine Bounou - recently signed for teams in Saudi Arabia, while Inter Miami captain Messi is the only USA-based player on the list.

Full List Of 2023 Men's Ballon d'Or Nominees

• Mohamed Salah - Liverpool/Egypt
• Jamal Musiala - Bayern Munich/Germany
• Karim Benzema - Al-Ittihad/France
• Andre Onana - Manchester United/Cameroon
• Josko Gvardiol - Manchester City/Croatia
• Julian Alvarez - Manchester City/Argentina
• Yassine Bounou - Al-Hilal/Morocco
• Vinicius Jr - Real Madrid/Brazil
• Ilkay Gundogan - Barcelona/Germany
• Martin Odegaard - Arsenal/Norway
• Erling Haaland - Manchester City/Norway
• Nicolo Barella - Inter Milan/Italy
• Ruben Dias - Manchester City/Portugal
• Emiliano Martinez - Aston Villa/Argentina
• Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - Napoli/Georgia
• Bernardo Silva - Manchester City/Portugal
• Randal Kolo Muani - PSG/France
• Jude Bellingham - Real Madrid/England
• Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City/Belgium
• Bukayo Saka - Arsenal/England
• Lionel Messi - Inter Miami/Argentina
• Rodri - Manchester City/Spain
• Lautaro Martinez - Inter Milan/Argentina
• Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid/France
• Robert Lewandowski - Barcelona/Poland
• Kim Min-jae - Bayern Munich/South Korea
• Luka Modric - Real Madrid/Croatia
• Kylian Mbappe - PSG/France
• Victor Osimhen - Napoli/Nigeria
• Harry Kane - Bayern Munich/England