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Always a highly-anticipated day in the football calendar, the nominees for the 2024 Ballon d’Or and its associated prizes were announced on Wednesday, September 4, with 60 players in the running to claim a Golden Ball across the men’s and women’s awards.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr and Manchester City midfielder Rodri are regarded as the favourites to claim the men’s prize, while Jude Bellingham could also make a case given his form for Madrid and England last season. The trio were joined on the men’s shortlist by the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland.
On the women’s side, 2023 winner Aitana Bonmati is the favourite to defend her crown after guiding Barcelona to a brilliant quadruple as well as winning the Nations League with Spain. She faces competition from club-mates such as Caroline Graham Hansen and Alexia Putellas, as well as a host of the United States’ Olympic gold medallists, including attacking trio Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson.
But despite the size of the shortlists for the main prizes, there are always players who miss out whose performances over the past 12 months deserve recognition. So who were those players in 2024? GOAL breaks down the year’s biggest Ballon d’Or snubs…
Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
For the first time since 2003, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo has made it onto the Ballon d’Or shortlist, marking an official changing of the guard after the duo shared 13 of the last 19 Golden Balls. But while Ronaldo’s omission was widely expected after a trophy-less season at Al-Nassr and a disappointing Euro 2024 with Portugal, Messi did at least have a case for inclusion.
The eight-time winner captained Argentina to the Copa America title in the summer for their third-successive major tournament triumph, and while he was nowhere near as influential as in the previous two, Messi still had his moments for La Albiceleste.
At club level, it’s fair to point out that the Leagues Cup triumph that he drove Inter Miami too last August technically fell inside the voting period, while he has managed 14 goals and 11 assists in just 15 games for the MLS outfit in 2024. However, all that wasn’t enough to get him among the elite 30 this time around.
Alvaro Morata (AC Milan)
Messi wasn’t the only international captain to lift a trophy this summer, only to miss out on Ballon d’Or recognition, as Alvaro Morata failed to be nominated despite leading to Spain to glory at the European Championship.
Morata may have only scored once during the tournament in Germany, but his all-round play allowed others, such as Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, to thrive in wide areas. At club level, meanwhile, he managed 21 goals in all competitions, though Atletico Madrid falling away during the second half of the season likely played its part in Morata – who has since joined AC Milan – missing out.
Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave)
Back in 2023, the U.S. women’s national team could boast just one Ballon d’Or nominee after their disastrous World Cup campaign. But after a year in which they won both the Gold Cup and Olympics, there are five Americans on the 2024 shortlist. Shockingly, though, Naomi Girma is not among them.
The 24-year-old can lay claim to being one of the very best centre-backs on the planet, and she played a key role in France over the summer as Emma Hayes’ side took gold. The form of her club side, the San Diego Wave, may have played a role in her missing out on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, but Girma is far from a problem in the NSWL. Rather, she is one of the league’s outstanding individuals.
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Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid)
Few players have enjoyed a more trophy-laden past two years than Julian Alvarez. In 2023-24, he followed up a campaign that saw him win the World Cup and the treble with Manchester City by contributing towards four more pieces of silverware, including the Copa America and Premier League trophies.
He may not make headlines on a weekly basis, but his return of 21 goals and 13 assists for club and country combined during the past campaign cannot be matched by many, and the £82 million ($99m) that Atletico Madrid paid to sign him over the summer highlights the level of player we are talking about. Alvarez finished in the Ballon d’Or top 10 in 2023, and he certainly had a case to make the top 30 again 12 months later.
Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)
Unquestionably the most egregious snub across both the men’s and women’s awards, Kadidiatou Diani could barely have done more to deserve individual recognition, and was even being tipped for a place on the podium after a superb campaign.
The France forward’s eight goals in the Champions League saw her finish as the competition’s top scorer as he fired Lyon to the final, while her winner against Paris Saint-Germain secured the Ligue 1 title for the perennial champions after a season in which she racked up assist after assist. Diani also enjoyed a decent Olympics even if the hosts didn’t come away with a medal, and thus really should have been one of the first names on the shortlist, rather than off it all together.
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