Paris Saint-Germain duo Lionel Messi and Neymar were reportedly excluded from the list of nominated players for the 2022 Balloon d’Or award, Newspremises reports
On Friday, August 12 2022, France football organizers of the Ballon d’Or Award published the nominees in all categories ahead of the ceremony.
This will be the first time since 2005 that the PSG superstar, Lionel Messi will not make the cut.
From the first time the Argentina captain embarked on a run of 15 consecutive nominations and won it seven times – the highest by any player.
However, he has been snubbed after a poor first season at League 1 Champions, where he netted only 11 goals in all competitions.
Messi’s team-mate, Neymar, is also absent from a list that features firm favourite Real Madrid talisman Karim Benzema.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland were also included in the list of this year’s nominees.
