The nominees for the 2024 Ballon d’Or have been revealed and Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards all agree on who should win.
The 30-man shortlist for the top individual prize in world football notably includes six England stars following their run to the Euro 2024 final.
Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane and Phil Foden all had incredible seasons, but Jude Bellingham is the Three Lions’ best hope following his heroics in his debut campaign for Real Madrid.
His Real teammates Vinicius Junior and Dani Carvajal are also among the frontrunners to win the Ballon d’Or after their La Liga and Champions League triumphs.
But in the eyes of the three pundits there is only one winner. Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the trio quickly agreed that Manchester City’s Rodri deserved the trophy.
‘There’s only one player winning it,’ Premier League legend Shearer said.
‘It can only be him. I think he should win and will win it.’
Men’s Ballon d’Or shortlist in full
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid and England)
- Phil Foden (Man City and England)
- Ruben Dias (Man City and Portugal)
- Federico Valverde (Real Madrid and Uruguay)
- Emiliano Martinez (Aston VIlla and Argentina)
- Erling Haaland (Man City and Norway)
- Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao and Spain)
- Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen and Switzerland)
- Artem Dovbik (Roma and Ukraine)
- Toni Kroos (Retired, formerly Real Madrid and Germany)
- Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid and Brazil)
- Martin Odegaard (Arsenal and Norway)
- Dani Olmo (Barcelona and Spain)
- Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany)
- Mats Hummels (Roma and Germany)
- Rodri (Man City and Spain)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal and England)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich and England)
- Cole Palmer (Chelsea and England)
- Vitinha (PSG and Portugal)
- Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid and Spain)
- William Saliba (Arsenal and France)
- Lamine Yamal (Barcelona and Spain)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal and England)
- Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan and Turkey)
- Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid and Germany)
- Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid and France)
- Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan and Argentina)
- Ademola Lookman (Atalanta and Nigeria)
- Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen and Spain)
Rodri enjoyed another successful season at the Etihad in 2023/24 winning the Premier League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, being named player of the competition for the latter.
The defensive midfiedler went on an incredible 74-game unbeaten run with his club that stretched from February 2023 to May 2024 that was ended in the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
What will likely give the 28-year-old the edge in the Ballon d’Or race is being named player of the tournament as Spain won Euro 2024 over the summer.
Ballon d’Or winner 2024 odds
Vinicius Junior – 4/9
Rodri – 7/4
Jude Bellingham – 11/2
Dani Carvajal – 8/1
Lamine Yamal – 11/1
Kylian Mbappe – 22/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
England legend Gary Lineker added: ‘I think Rodri deserves it. Obviously, they didn’t win the Champions League at City but they did win the Premier League and then the Euros with Spain where he was very much their leader.
‘Young player of the year I’ve got a feeling will be Lamine Yamal. He could win that for the next five years!’
City icon Richards concurred, adding that Vinicius and Bellingham would also be strong contenders: ‘If Bellingham had won the Euros with England, he would be a big shout, a big possibility.’
The Ballon d’Or winner will be crowned at a ceremony in Paris on October 28.
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