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The race for the 2023 Ballon d'Or ended when the final trophy of the 2022-23 season was handed out. Footballers all over the world made their case for the most prestigious individual prize in football over the course of last season. Several players achieved great feats to intensify the race for the 2023 Ballon d'Or.
Karim Benzema won the award in 2022. As opposed to 2023, there was a clear-cut winner last time around as the Frenchman was head and shoulders above his competition. However, predicting who's walking away with the Ballon d'Or this year has proven to be a difficult task.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top five favourites to win the Ballon d'Or this year.
#5 Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne is the assist-king of Europe now and there's no way anyone can argue against that notion. The Belgian midfield maestro was the chief architect for Manchester City as they raced to a continental treble last term.
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De Bruyne was at his scintillating best, picking out passes his peers might not even think up and creating chances out of nothing. The 31-year-old scored 10 goals and provided an incredible 31 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions for Pep Guardiola's side in the 2022-23 season.
He is definitely the dark horse in the race for the 2023 Ballon d'Or.
#4 Kylian Mbappe
In a world where the sole focus, when it comes to the Ballon d'Or, was on individual achievements, Kylian Mbappe could have been the favourite to win the coveted award this year. But that's unfortunately not the case.
Despite winning the Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain and earning incredible individual accolades, the Frenchman is likely to stop just short of taking the Ballon d'Or home.
Mbappe picked up the Golden Boot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He even scored a hat-trick for France in the final against Argentina but Les Bleus eventually lost the epic final on penalties. The 24-year-old also finished the 2022-23 season as the top scorer in Ligue 1.
But owing to the even more astounding achievements of his peers, he might only make the Ballon d'Or podium at best this year.
#3 Rodri
Manchester City midfield lynchpin Rodri has now established himself as the finest holding midfielder in the world. The Spaniard is an extremely intelligent and technically proficient campaigner whose contributions were vital to Manchester City's continental treble triumph last term.
He keeps things neat and tidy in midfield, gets combative whenever the need arises and aces his job of providing extra protection to City's defence. Rodri scored Manchester City's winner in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. He also won the UEFA Nations League with Spain this summer.
At the very least, Rodri should make it to the Ballon d'Or podium this year.
#2 Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland joined Manchester City and absolutely terrorized opponents with his prolific goalscoring ability in his debut season in England. He is already a phenomenal striker at the age of 23 and is arguably the best in the world.
The sky is the limit for the Norwegian marksman and it was quite evident from the way he went about breaking records for City last term. He scored a whopping 52 goals and provided nine assists in 53 appearances across all competitions for Manchester City in the 2022-23 season.
He is tipped to win multiple Ballon d'Or awards in the future. But this might not be his year.
#1 Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi made an emphatic case for a record-extending eighth Ballon d'Or in the 2022-23 season and it'd be difficult to look past it. As he led Argentina to what was quite possibly his final World Cup, he did not forget to throw the kitchen sink at it.
Messi won the Golden Ball at the tournament, scored seven goals and won the World Cup for La Albiceleste. He produced a string of mesmerising performances to make an even stronger case to be considered the greatest footballer of all time.
He also had a very good domestic season with PSG, winning the Ligue 1 title in his final season in the French capital. Messi scored 21 goals and provided 20 assists in 41 appearances in all competitions for the Parisians last season.
