Lionel Messi was not included in the 30-man list of the Ballon d’Or announced by L’Equipe and France Football on Friday night and subsequently, he won’t be in contention for the individual award.
Messi has won the award seven times and remains the only player to win the award for that number, the choice of the organisers is not to include Messi and include Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2022 Ballon d’Or nominee list explained.
Messi among most Ballon d’Or nominees despite missing out for first time
L’Equipe has justified their reason behind Messi’s omission, the body explained that it is now based on the football season and not the calendar year and that Messi’s performances were below par.
Messi joined PSG last season and performed below par, he scored just six goals in Ligue 1 and was knocked out in the round of 16 by Real Madrid in the second round of the competition.
Messi’s performance all through the season was nothing to write home about, though PSG won the league on an individual level the Argentine was not firing all cylinders as he used to be.
