Ranking the top 10 contenders for the 2024 Ballon d'Or | OneFootball

Highlights

It's official! Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or for a record eighth time! The 36-year-old received the award off the back of an unforgettable year in which he finally won the World Cup with Argentina. Erling Haaland will have to wait at least another 12 months to win the accolade after finishing second in the vote, having won the treble with Manchester City last season.

At the age of 36 and now playing in MLS with Inter Miami, it feels as though Messi is unlikely to add a ninth to his collection. What's more Cristiano Ronaldo has not won the award since 2017, so he's unlikely to win it next year after a season with Al-Nassr – although you can't entirely rule out either legend just yet. For the first time in years, then, it truly feels as though the race is wide open for anyone to come in a claim the Ballon d'Or.

In the past, the award was based on the performance of footballers across a calendar year. However, this time around – for the second time in the history of the award – the votes were based on the results of the season. So, most recently, Messi won for his efforts starting on 1 August 2022 and ending on 31 July 2023. With that in mind, GIVEMESPORT has listed their power ranking for the top ten most likely candidates going off how well they've performed up to this point in the current campaign.

10 Cristiano Ronaldo

As mentioned before, it's extremely unlikely that Ronaldo is in the running for the next Ballon d'Or. After all, he didn't even make the final 30 shortlist the time around. But still, it would be foolish to ever rule out the five-time winner completely.

After all, he has actually enjoyed a very impressive start to the ever-strengthening Saudi Pro League season with 11 goals and six assists in Al-Nassr's opening ten games. What's more, he continues to score goals for Portugal – netting four times in two European qualifiers during the last international break. If he can lead his nation to glory at Euro 2024, he may yet be an outside shot at the award.

9 Lionel Messi

Much like Ronaldo, Messi is another ageing great who may well be past their prime but could potentially keep themselves in the running with another brilliant season. The former Barcelona man has 11 goals and five assists in his first 14 Inter Miami outings.

On top of that, he will hope to win more silverware with Argentina in the summer as they look to defend their Copa América title. And while he probably won't be in the running in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, right now Messi is the reigning champion so deserves his spot in the top ten. He also tipped two names picks as possible future winners, telling the press: “This Ballon d’Or is a gift for all of Argentina. But, I don’t want to forget Haaland or Mbappe, who had a great year, spectacular, and in the coming years they will win this award. The level never goes down, I’ve been lucky to be here for many years. I want to give special mention to all those people who were happy that Argentina were world champion."

8 Vinicius Junior

With just three goals and three assists to his name in the opening 10 games of the season, it hasn't quite been the blistering start to a campaign we'd expect from Vinicius Jr at Real Madrid. For that reason, he doesn't rank any higher on our list at this stage in time.

Even so, such is the player's calibre, the Brazilian can expect to be consistently listed amongst the very best footballers in the world over the next few years and beyond. Last year, he scored 23 times and provided 21 assists in 55 outings for Los Blancos, earning a sixth-place finish in the 2023 Ballon d'Or rankings. You can expect him to start delivering those sorts of numbers once again soon enough.

Going purely off the start of the new season, there are very few across the globe who are playing better football than Martínez right now. With 11 goals and two assists in 10 games, he has Inter Milan looking like the strongest Serie A title contenders this time around.

On top of that, he is coming off the back of a World Cup-winning year and also having made the Champions League final. If he can win more silverware with Inter and enjoy success at Copa America, the 26-year-old could finally get his flowers on one of the biggest stages.

6 Mohamed Salah

Jurgen Klopp appears to have his team back to their best this season and unsurprisingly Salah is at the very heart of that. He has eight goals and four assists in the opening ten Premier League games and looks as though he could lead Liverpool deep into a genuine title race.

The only thing that is working against Salah is that the Reds are playing in the Europa League this term. Even if the Egyptian wins that competition, it won't quite make the same waves as a few good performances in the latter stages of the Champions League would.

5 Harry Kane

Having finally left Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, the prospect of winning silverware for the first time in his career suddenly looks to be a realistic goal for Kane. Indeed, at Bayern Munich, he will be expected to lift the Bundesliga and go deep into the Champions League.

If the Englishman can bring glory on multiple fronts for the German giants, he'll be in with a shout at also winning the biggest individual accolade in the game. Promisingly, life in Bavaria has been good to him so far, with 12 goals and five assists in his first nine league games – including that ridiculous strike from the halfway line against Darmstadt.

4 Rodri

In the most recent Ballon d'Or rankings, Rodri came in at fifth but there is an argument to suggest he should have finished higher. After all, he may well be the most important player for Manchester City.

Indeed, seeing as they've lost every game he's missed this term if you do the maths, he's potentially more important to Pep Guardiola than Haaland. With that being the case, the Spaniard could easily enter the top three next term should he have another fantastic season with the Premier League champions.

3 Kylian Mbappé

In a weird way, it feels a little bit surprising that Mbappé doesn't have a Ballon d'Or to his name already. He won the World Cup in 2018, and then netted a hat-trick in the final as France fell just short at the final hurdle against Argentina last winter in Qatar.

On top of that, he has consistently blasted in the goals and won league titles in his homeland with PSG. And yet, and yet... it feels as though the young winger may need to fire his team to glory in the Champions League if he is to win the Ballon d'Or next time around. He at least has two goals in three games in that competition so far – as well as nine in ten Ligue 1 outings.

2 Erling Haaland

There are plenty who felt as though Haaland should have been crowned the winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or this October but even his 52 goals in all competitions – as City won the Treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup – weren't enough to pip Messi to the post.

He did at least win the Gerd Muller Trophy for best goalscorer but with the Argentine probably out of the way, Haaland is already a front-runner for next year's award. He has 13 goals in 13 games across the Premier League and the Champions League so far and more trophies feel inevitable for Man City. It would be a shock if he isn't in the top three next time around.

1 Jude Bellingham

If we are going off current form, then you can look no further than Bellingham. After the 20-year-old made a big summer move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, it would have been understandable if it took him some time to settle in. But, of course, we aren't just talking about any normal footballer.

No, we are talking about Bellingham. The boy from Birmingham who has arrived in Spain and taken on the number five shirt for Los Blancos as if it was his birthright. The winner of the 2023 Kopa Trophy (given to the world's best young player) has scored 13 goals in his first 13 Madrid games – including that match-winning brace against rivals Barcelona on his Clasico debut. For now, he is the leader of the pack.