Messi wins the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time! Haaland was the top scorer, how did the other categories go?

Star striker Lionel Messi wins the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in his career. The famous Argentine dominated the 67th edition of France Football magazine’s prestigious poll ahead of second-placed Erling Haaladn and third-placed Kylian Mbappe. How did the other categories go?

On Monday night, the results of the Ballon d’Or voting were announced at a gala in Paris. For the second time in history, however, the performances of individual players were not evaluated for the calendar year, but for the season.

The Ballon d’Or nominations were announced by the organisers on 6 September 2023, with 30 names vying for the overall top prize. Among them, however, Cristiano Ronaldo was absent for the first time since 2003.

Kopa Trophy

First of all, however, we learned the name of the winner of the Kopa Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the best player under 21 and previous winners include Kylian Mbappé, Pedri, Gavi and Matthijs de Ligt.

This year’s winner was Jude Bellingham, who transferred from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid at the start of the summer transfer window. The Stourbridge native not only immediately made the starting line-up, but also became one of the Spanish big club’s biggest stars.

In second place was another huge talent, Jamal Musiala. Other finalists besides Bellignham and Musiala included Pedri, Gavi and Eduardo Camavinga.

“I want to thank everyone who supported me on my journey. From Birmingham to Dortmund to Real Madrid. There’s more to come,” said Bellingham as he presented the trophy.

The Socrates Trophy and the best women’s team of the past season

Fans also learned the name of the winner of the Socrates Trophy. The award is relatively new, only being given out since last year, to the footballer who excels in the field of charity and philanthropy. Sadio Mané won it in 2022.

This year, the trophy was awarded to Real Madrid star Vinicius Júnior, for his fight against racism and his hard work in the field of education in Brazil.

The Brazilian has so far invested nearly 4 million euros on his Vini Jr. Institute – an educational app for poor students.

FC Barcelona was voted the Women’s Team of the Year. The trophy was presented to the Spanish giant’s president Joan Laporta. In accepting the award, he thanked all those who work hard to promote women’s football.

Best goalkeeper Martínez, Gerd Müller Trophy for Haaland!

Then the so-called Yachine Trophy was awarded, namely the trophy given to the best goalkeeper of the past year. The finalists included Emiliano Martinez, Ederson, Thibaut Courtois, Marc-André ter Stegen and Yassine Bounou.

In the end, winning the trophy for the World Cup winners tipped the scales, with Argentina’s Martínez becoming the best goalkeeper in the world. The champion of the World Cup in Qatar thus followed the recent championships of Courtois, Gianluigi Donnarumma or Alisson Becker.

The winner of the Gerd Müller Trophy, which is awarded to the top scorer of the past season, was Erling Haaland, author of an incredible 56 goals, without any surprises. He left behind such greats as Messi, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski.

Club of the Year – Manchester City, Women’s Ballon d’Or winner

The best club of the past year was Champions League winner Manchester City. They also won the Premier League and the FA Cup. There could be no doubt about his victory. The Citizens had already won the trophy last year, and had seven nominations for the Ballon d’Or.

The female winner of the Ballon d’Or was Barcelona and Spanish national team star Aitana Bonmati. She won the title with the Catalan giant and also scored gold at national level.

Messi is king again!

As for the men’s category, the elite ten were announced on a rolling basis. Luka Modric took tenth place, with Bernardo Silva, Victor Osimhen, Julian Alvárez, Vinícius Jr. and Rodri ahead of him in succession.

The winner of the Ballon d’Or, as recent reports and speculations said, was the legendary Messi. He led Argentina to gold at the World Cup in Qatar, and that is exactly what decided his triumph.

This is the eighth time Messi has won the Ballon d’Or, and he mentioned at the presentation ceremony that even though this is an individual trophy, he would never have won it if it wasn’t for his teammates in the Argentine national team. He also added that Diego Maradona was his great inspiration.

In the end, the runner-up was top scorer Haaland. Kylian Mbappé rounded out the podium. Fourth place goes to Kevin de Bruyne.

Source: Ballon d’Or, Twitter / X