Who will win the 2024 Ballon d’Or? Bellingham the early favourite but Mbappe, Haaland are lurking

Jason Soutar
Jude Bellingham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland are all in the race for the 2024 Ballon d'Or.
Jude Bellingham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland are all in the race for the 2024 Ballon d'Or.

Lionel Messi has claimed his eighth Ballon d’Or. The countdown to next year’s awards ceremony is already on and two England players are in the top four favourites to win the big one in 2024. The Euros, Copa America and AFCON are going to have a big say.

 

1) Jude Bellingham
A wonderful start to life in Madrid means Bellingham is the early frontrunner to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or. A Champions League with Real Madrid and Euro 2024 with England should do the trick.

 

2) Kylian Mbappe
Six times he has been in the top 10 but 2023 marked his first time on the podium behind Messi and the man below him on this list.

 

3) Erling Haaland
A million goals and a Treble with Manchester City were not enough to win the 2023 award. Fat chance this time around then, especially as Norway will be absent from the Euros.

READ MORE: The ridiculous stats of award-winning Erling Haaland: more all-time PL goals than three clubs

 

4) Harry Kane
No England player has won the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001. Who better to end the drought than the best English player of the last decade?

Ex-Tottenham star Kane

Harry Kane in action for Bayern Munich.

 

5) Lionel Messi
Winning the Copa America surely wouldn’t be enough for an Inter Miami player to win the Ballon d’Or.

READ MORE: The Ballon d’Or completes its descent into meaningless, offensive football ‘content’

 

6) Rodri
Similar to Haaland, it is difficult to imagine Rodri having a better season than he did last time around. At least there is no Messi World Cup fairy tale to compete with.

 

7) Vinicius Junior
The best winger in the world is improving every single season and there is no reason to rule him out of the race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or. He came sixth in 2023.

 

8) Kevin De Bruyne
After third and fourth-place finishes in 2022 and 2023, De Bruyne will hope he stays fit enough to be in contention next year.

 

9) Mohamed Salah
Messi went to the United States halfway through the year and it didn’t stop him from winning another Ballon d’Or, so Salah could go to Saudi Arabia and still be in the hunt. Or he could if he was playing at the Euros.

READ MORE: Who will win the PFA Player of the Year? Salah is second-favourite behind Haaland

 

10) Cristiano Ronaldo
Winning an international tournament would help the majority of these players. It feels imperative for Ronaldo and surely still wouldn’t be nearly enough.

F365 Features