The 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or nominees were unveiled on September 4, marking a historic shift in football as neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo were featured on the list. This is the first time since 2003 that both legends have been absent from the nominations.
Messi, who won his eighth Ballon d’Or in 2022, and Ronaldo, a five-time winner, had dominated the award from 2008 to 2018. Their era of supremacy was briefly interrupted in 2019 when Luka Modric won the prize. Since then, the two superstars continued to influence football globally, but with Messi now at Inter Miami in Major League Soccer and Ronaldo playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, their absence from the nominations underscores a significant transition in the sport.
The 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony will take place on October 28 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, as football’s prestigious individual accolade prepares to recognize a new era of talent.
