Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar: Who will win the 2023 Ballon d'Or? | OneFootball

The dust has barely settled on the 2022 Ballon d’Or and we already have an idea about who might win the next title.

Ordinarily, predicting the next year’s winner the day after the prize-giving ceremony would be impossible because the timeframe in which the players would be judged wouldn’t even have started.

However, with France Football moving the goal posts from calendar years to seasons for the 2022 edition, it does indeed mean that we’re already two months into the judging period for the next award.

Who will win the 2023 Ballon d'Or?

Therefore, riding the wave of Karim Benzema's historic triumph on Monday night, we decided to put on our tinfoil hats and rank the 10 players that we think are the current frontrunners for the 2023 prize.

So, be sure to join us on this wild and wacky journey into a prediction that will no doubt age like milk to get ahead of the game with who might be named the best male player of 2022/23.

10. Thibaut Courtois

Will Courtois become the first goalkeeper since Lev Yashin to take home the top prize? Probably not, but there's still a lot of things going in his favour and we've got to remember one key fact: the World Cup is crucial.

Football's biggest prize always has a huge bearing on the Ballon d'Or votes and with Courtois playing between the sticks for one of the favourites in Belgium, as well as a top contender for the Champions League and La Liga, a few world-class displays could catapult him into the running.

9. Cristiano Ronaldo

Why? Well, mostly because he's Ronaldo and that alone is enough to hoover up more votes than anyone else under the same circumstances would get - but it's not all just pure speculation.

Besides, it's not entirely impossible that Ronaldo will win the World Cup with Portugal and move to a club in January where he can actually start every game and duly start scoring goals. The Ballon d'Or would be his to lose if it happens.

8. Karim Benzema

Only in eighth because the current winner hasn't made the explosive start to the year that he would have hoped for, but it only takes him to catch fire at the business end of the season for things to turn around.

Like Courtois, another Champions League and World Cup challenge married to more goalscoring delight would definitely put Benzema in contention to retain his Ballon d'Or plaque.

7. Vinicius Junior

Vinicius showed in 2022 that a stunning season for Real Madrid is enough to fire him into the top 10, but there are two things required for him to turn that into the trophy itself: become the club's main man and World Cup magic.

So far, Vinicius has already achieved the former with eight goals and three assists so far this season seeing him outshine Benzema, meaning that top-class displays at Qatar 2022 could put him in the mix.

6. Kevin De Bruyne

Much of the same ingredients are here that Courtois benefited from: he plays for a country in the race for World Cup glory and represents a club firmly in contention to win their league title and the Champions League.

However, even better for De Bruyne is the fact that he won't suffer from the bias shown against defenders and goalkeepers, meaning that his glittering displays from midfield could nab him the ultimate prize.

5. Robert Lewandowski

The man, the myth, the legend simply has to be in the top five because he's once again producing a run of goalscoring form that represents nothing short of Ballon d'Or contention: opening up at Barcelona with 14 goals in 13 outings.

However, Lewandowski will ultimately be held back by the fact that Poland stand very little chance of going very far at the World Cup. Plus, the Ballon d'Or seems to be hell-bent on preventing the main man from collecting this prize.

4. Erling Haaland

No doubt a lot of football fans would immediately have put Haaland in top spot and you can understand why considering he's the world's most in-form player with a staggering goalscoring record of 20 strikes in his first 14 games for Manchester City.

However, he is - of course - massively disadvantaged by the fact that Norway aren't playing at this year's World Cup, leaving the door wide open for plenty of players to usurp him unless his strike rate proves to be so alien that even the top performers in Qatar can't make up the difference.

3. Kylian Mbappe

For all the problems he's wading through at Paris Saint-Germain right now, you just know that Mbappe will come out the other side of it with dizzying goal and assists statistics that see him linked with the Ballon d'Or.

So if he can marry that with a second consecutive World Cup trophy or at the very least a Golden Boot or Golden Ball, then you can rest assured that he'll collect his first plaque. You just know he'll be there or thereabouts.

2. Neymar

For starters, Neymar is a man possessed this season with a truly nauseating start to the campaign courtesy of 13 goals and nine assists 16 games for PSG, which is enough to see him place highly straight off the bat.

But then comes the World Cup. Brazil are big favourites going into the tournament and if the Selecao are going to succeed in Qatar, then you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll do so thanks to some Neymar magic.

If Neymar inspires Brazil to a sixth World Cup title, then he'll just need a semi-decent season where Haaland doesn't blow him out of the water and a Ballon d'Or trophy will finally be his.

1. Lionel Messi

It can only be him and we'll tell you why. First and foremost, Messi has started the season like a man on a mission with a shimmering record of eight goals and eight assists from his opening 14 games for PSG.

Marry that to the fact that Argentina are one of the biggest favourites to win the World Cup as they enter the tournament on the back of a 35-game unbeaten run and you can easily see the stars aligning for the Barcelona icon.

Let's face it, we can all see a world in which the Ballon d'Or voters plump for Messi over anyone else if he maintains his current PSG form and even comes close to finally winning the World Cup.

Could Messi make it No. 8?

So, there you have it, the 10 players that we think stand the best chance of winning the 2023 Ballon d'Or as things stand.

However, as you all know, there is so much that can change in the world of football over the course of seven months, so don't be surprised if somebody who isn't on the list gets their hands on that most famous of golden footballs.

We can't be alone in having a sneaky suspicion that Messi is closing in on number eight, though...

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