Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland head the shortlist of nominees for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

Messi just left Paris Saint-Germain for Inter Miami. After leading Argentina to World Cup victory in Qatar last year, he has a chance to beat Karim Benzema and win the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in his amazing career.

Haaland may be his biggest competition for the prize because he scored 52 goals in 53 games last season and helped Manchester City win the Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup.

Last season, the Norway striker won the UEFA player of the year award.

Kylian Mbappe of PSG and Kevin De Bruyne, who plays for Haaland’s City team, are also among the 30 candidates for the prize. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Paris on October 30.

Benzema, who left Real Madrid for Saudi club Al-Ittihad in June after 14 years there, is also up for the award.

Bonmati is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or because she was the best player when Spain won the World Cup in Sydney last month. She won the UEFA women’s player award.

She was also a big part of Barcelona’s win in the Champions League, and she hopes to follow in the footsteps of Alexia Putellas, who won the last two years for both her club and her country.

Putellas isn’t nominated this time because she didn’t play much for Barcelona last season because she hurt her knee in July 2022 and couldn’t play for nine months.

Bonmati was nominated along with Olga Carmona, Salma Paralluelo, and Alba Redondo, all of whom were on Spain’s team that won the World Cup.

Patricia Guijarro and Mapi Leon, who are also from their country, are also named.

Both of them are from Barcelona, but they didn’t go to the World Cup because they were among the 15 players who said last year that they didn’t want to play for Spain anymore to protest the Spanish federation and coach Jorge Vilda.

Sam Kerr, a striker for Chelsea and Australia, and Mary Earps, a custodian for England, are also among the 30 nominees.

Photo by EPA/MARK HUMPHREY