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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
PA Media

England’s Bronze, Mead and Bright nominated for Ballon d’Or

Beth Mead (left), Millie Bright (second left) and Lucy Bronze celebrate Bronze’s goal in the Euro 2022 semi-final against Sweden.
Beth Mead (left), Millie Bright (second left) and Lucy Bronze celebrate Bronze’s goal in the Euro 2022 semi-final against Sweden. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Uefa/Getty Images

European Championship winners Millie Bright, Lucy Bronze and Beth Mead are among the nominees for the Ballon d’Or Feminin.

Mead was the top scorer and named player of the tournament as England triumphed on home soil last month.

Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Vivianne Miedema of Arsenal also make the shortlist, along with Barcelona star Alexia Putellas, while the headline from the men’s nominations was the absence of seven-time winner Lionel Messi.

Messi won the prize in 2021 and 2019 - it was not held in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic - but, following his move to Paris Saint-Germain, the Argentinian has been omitted.

Messi’s long-time rival for the Ballon d’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, is included as the only Manchester United nominee while English trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden and Harry Kane also make the 30-strong line-up.

Foden is one of six Manchester City players on the list including new signing Erling Haaland while Liverpool quintet Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Núñez - as well as the recently departed Sadio Mané - are also included.

Son Heung-min joins his strike partner Kane while the favourite to win for the first time is Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

MEN

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, England); Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France); João Cancelo (Manchester City, Portugal); Casemiro (Real Madrid, Brazil); Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium); Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium); Luis Díaz (Liverpool, Colombia); Fabinho (Liverpool, Brazil); Phil Foden (Manchester City, England); Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway); Sébastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund, Ivory Coast); Harry Kane (Tottenham, England); Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany); Rafael Leão (Milan, Portugal); Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland); Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria); Mike Maignan (Milan, France); Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain, France); Sadio Mané (Bayern Munich, Senegal); Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia); Darwin Núñez (Liverpool, Uruguay); Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France); Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal); Antonio Rüdiger(Real Madrid, Germany); Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt); Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal); Son Heung-min (Tottenham, South Korea); Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands); Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid, Brazil); Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus, Serbia)

WOMEN

Selma Bacha (Lyon, France); Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona, Spain); Millie Bright (Chelsea, England); Lucy Bronze (Barcelona, England); Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain, France); Christiane Endler (Lyon, Chile); Ada Hegerberg (Lyon, Norway); Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris St-Germain, France); Sam Kerr (Chelsea, Australia); Catarina Macario (Lyon, United States); Beth Mead (Arsenal, England); Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal, Netherlands); Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave, United States); Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg, Germany); Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona, Nigeria); Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg, Germany); Alexia Putellas (Barcelona, Spain); Wendie Renard (Lyon, France); Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit, United States); Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona, Sweden)

Champions League winners Real are well represented, with Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Vinícius Junior and recent recruit from Chelsea Antonio Rüdiger also included.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and fellow England international Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund are among the nominees for the Kopa Trophy for the best players aged 21 and under.

The Premier League is well represented in the shortlist for the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper, meanwhile, with Man City’s Ederson, Alisson Becker of Liverpool, Chelsea’s Édouard Mendy and Hugo Lloris of Tottenham joining Courtois on the 10-man shortlist.

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