Mohamed Salah Named on 30-Man Ballon d’Or Shortlist for 2023
Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah has been named on the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist for 2023, making it the fifth time in a row he has been nominated for the prestigious award.
Wednesday night saw the nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or award announced, with Salah the only Liverpool player on the list. The 31-year-old has been up for the award every year since his switch to Anfield in 2018, which makes him one of only four players to have done so in that time.
Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne and Kylian Mbappe are the only others to have been nominated for the last five Ballon d’Ors.
Salah’s Closest Finish
Remarkably, though, Salah has never placed among the top three when the Ballon d’Or has been awarded, coming sixth in 2018, fifth in 2019, seventh in 2021 and fifth in 2022. The 2020 iteration of the awards was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the football calendar.
The closest any Liverpool player has come to winning the Ballon d’Or over the past five awards is second, with Virgil van Dijk (2019) and Sadio Mane (2022) both runners up. Neither Van Dijk nor Mane are nominated for this year’s award, which will be announced at a ceremony on October 30.
Meanwhile, Alisson has been overlooked as one of 10 nominees for the Yashin Trophy, despite an outstanding individual year.
Ballon d’Or Nominees 2023
The full list of nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or is as follows: Andre Onana (Manchester United/Cameroon), Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City/Croatia), Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich/Germany), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid/England), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal/England), Randal Kolo Muani (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City/Portugal), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa/Argentina), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli/Georgia), Rúben Dias (Manchester City/Portugal), Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan/Italy), Erling Haaland (Manchester City/Norway), Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal/Morocco), Martin Odegaard (Arsenal/Norway), Julian Alvarez (Manchester City/Argentina), Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona/Germany), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami/Argentina), Rodri (Manchester City/Spain), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan/Argentina), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid/France), Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona/Poland), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Kim Min-jae (Napoli/South Korea), Victor Osimhen (Napoli/Nigeria), Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia) and Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/England).
Salah will be hoping to make it a sixth consecutive nomination for the Ballon d’Or when the award is announced on October 30.