Ballon d'Or 2018
The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award presented by France Football and is given to the male player deemed to have performed the best over the year. The list is compiled by the editorial staff of the French publication and the winner is given on the basis of votes given by journalists from around the world, with one representative per nation. Originally it was an award for players from Europe. But in 1995 the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players from any origin that have been active at any European club. Finally, in 2007 it became a global prize with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible to win the prize.
The Ballon d'Or is arguably the most prestigious award in football. It has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956. The former England international Sir Stanley Matthews was the first player to win the award. The award has been dominated by C. Ronaldo and L. Messi for the last ten years as they have won the award five times each, which is more than any other player in the history of the award.
The shortlist of 30 players for the Ballon d'Or 2018 has been already given by France Football, here are the nominees who could win the prestigious award:
Sergio Aguero, Alisson Becker, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani, Thibaut Courtois, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Roberto Firmino, Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Isco, Harry Kane, N'Golo Kante, Hugo Lloris, Mario Mandzukic, Sadio Mane, Marcelo, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Neymar, Jan Oblak, Paul Pogba, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Ramos, Mohamed Salah, Luis Suarez, Raphael Varane.
The favorites to win the award are:
Cristiano Ronaldo:
The five-time winner had a fantastic year which included a Champions League trophy. He was the top scorer of the Champions League last season with 15 goals. He made another record last year as he scored in 10 consecutive matches in the Champions League. His performance in the FIFA World Cup was impressive as well; it included a hatrick against Spain in the group stage. Last season he scored 44 goals out of 44 matches in all competition. He made a move to Juventus in the summer where he seems to have adapted quite well.
Luka Modric:
Luka Modric had a fantastic year as well. He was a vital part of Real Madrid in winning the Champions League. He took his national team Croatia to the World Cup final and played absolutely amazing, which earned him the Golden Ball of the tournament. Luka Modric has already won the best player award given by FIFA and UEFA this year and is surely one of the top favorites to win the Ballon d'Or as well.
Mohamed Salah:
Mohamed Salah may have had a trophy-less season in 2017/18. But he has been absolutely amazing in the Premier League last season. He broke the record of the highest goal scored in a Premier League season (of 38 games) after he scored 32 goals last season. He helped Liverpool to reach the Champions League final but got injured early in the match, which may have caused his club losing the final. He made it into the top-three shortlist for FIFA and UEFA as well.