Football showpiece glamor event returns as the world's best footballers are awarded for their performances over the past year.
Alongside FIFA's 'The Best' ceremony, the Ballon d'Or honours the greatest players and celebrates individuals over the course of a calendar year. The event is held in Paris and includes awards for the best male and female players, young player, goal of the year, best goalkeeper, best striker and club of the year.
Chelsea are current holders of the club of the year after a successful 2021 saw them crowned Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup winners alongside Women's Champions League runners up, FA Cup winners and Women's Super League winners.
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The remarkable performance from Chelsea in 2021 was demonstrated by five players being ranked in the top 30 and therefore on the shortlist. This was comprised of Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Romelu Lukaku and Cesar Azpilicueta. Edouard Mendy finished runner up for the Lev Yashin goalkeeper award.
Jorginho even came third in the overall standings. 2022 hasn't been as nice to the club, though, with no notable achievements despite two domestic cup final appearances. Chelsea finished third in the league but fell short in of a title challenge and were Champions League quarter-finalists. However, there are players of interest at the ceremony nonetheless.
Antonio Rudiger, who left in the summer to Real Madrid on a free transfer, is on the 30-man shortlist which was released before his competitive debut for Los Blancos and therefore crowns his exceptional personal performances at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, at this stage, may have been wishing they inserted a Ballon d'Or clause into his deal with similar stipulations in contracts of other Premier League players. Anthony Martial, for example, would earn his former club Monaco an extra £7.2million if he was to ever win the award.
Outside of the German, former Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah is on the list which will further hurt fans that have seen him achieve so much in the red of Liverpool, but Todd Boehly may have a watchful eye on the ceremony as two key transfer targets are ranked.
Alongside Christopher Nkunku, who football.london understand has a pre-agreement to join next summer and is also in contention for an earlier January deal, is AC Milan winger Rafael Leao. The Portuguese attacker isn't there off the basis of his two performances against Chelsea in the Champions League group stages, but his stature as a top talent in the game demonstrates why the Blues are considering his £127million release clause.
Leao is the centre of contract discussions with the Italian champions as Chelsea circle and have their interest known with a big summer effort to get the 23-year-old to London expected. How he does ranked next to some of football's best players will only show the skills Chelsea wish to acquire.
The 30 nominees for the Men's Ballon d'Or: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Karim Benzema, Joao Cancelo, Casemiro, Thibaut Courtois, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Sebastien Haller, Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich, Rafael Leao, Robert Lewandowski, Riyad Mahrez, Mike Maignan, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Christopher Nkunku, Darwin Nunez, Antonio Rudiger, Mohamed Salah, Bernardo Silva, Son Heung-min, Virgil van Dijk, Vinicius Jr, Dusan Vlahovic.
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