Last year, Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or after finally conquering the World Cup during the past season. However, the Inter Miami star isn’t nominated for the prize this year, but that doesn’t mean that Argentina don’t have representation on the final list of nominees for 2024 Ballon d’Or.
Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez and Lautaro Martínez are the nominees from the Argentina national team. They both were key to their 2024 Copa America’s triumph, and both won individual trophies in the tournament. Lautaro was the top scorer with five goals, one in the final, while ‘Dibu’ won the Best Goalkeeper prize.
Performance with Argentina aside, they have also shined with their clubs. At Inter Milan, Martinez not only won the Serie A, but also finished the 2023-24 season as the top scorer in the league with 24 goals. He also won the Serie A MVP for the season.
On the other hand, ‘Dibu’ Martinez broke Aston Villa’s record of most clean sheets in a goalkeeper’s first 100 games with 34, surpassing Mark Bosnich and Brad Friedel (33). Martinez will also compete for the Yashin Award for Best Goalkeeper, and he is the only goalkeeper in the list for the Ballon d’Or.
Among the other nominees, Real Madrid is the club with the most nominees: Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal, Vinicius Jr. and Antonio Rudiger. Kylian Mbappé, who recently signed with Los Blancos, is also competing.
Lionel Scaloni is competing for Men’s Coach of the Year
Lautaro Martinez and Emiliano Martinez aren’t the only Argentina’s representative at the upcoming gala, which will be celebrated on October 28th. Lionel Scaloni is also nominated for the Men’s Coach of the Year, in which he will compete against Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen), Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Luis de la Fuente (Spain), Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta) and Pep Guardiola (Manchester City).
Messi and Cristiano are not nominated for the first time since 2003
Neither Leo Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo are on the list of eligible players for the Ballon d’Or. The Portuguese player was already excluded from the list of winners last year, and now Messi has joined him. This is the first time since 2003 that neither of them is among the candidates.