Three superstars already out of 2023 Ballon d’Or race

Carlo Garganese

18 Oct 2022 09:47 BST
3 min read

Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona, 2022-23 — © ProShots

Karim Benzema was crowned as the winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or in Paris, with the Real Madrid goal machine deservedly taking the prize for the first time in his career.

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As Benzema celebrates his award, attention is already beginning to turn to who could win the 2023 Ballon d’Or.

As it is a World Cup year, it is already easy to predict which players are unlikely be in the frame for next year’s Golden Ball.

Below are three players who already have little chance of winning the 2023 Ballon d’Or.

Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski has been robbed of winning the Ballon d’Or in the past but his dream of claiming the prize won’t be realised next year.

Barcelona are set to go out of the Champions League in the group stages, with Inter Milan only needing to beat Viktoria Plzen at home in order to eliminate the Blaugrana.

With Barcelona unable to challenge in the Champions League, only winning the World Cup with Poland could be enough for Lewandowski to take the Ballon d’Or. And that isn’t going to happen.

Mohamed Salah

In World Cup years, the best player of the tournament nearly always goes on to win the Ballon d’Or.

This would have made Mohamed Salah’s chances of winning the Golden Ball hard enough if Egypt had even qualified for Qatar 2022. The fact they didn’t qualify altogether now makes it almost impossible.

The only slim chance Salah has is if he leads Liverpool to Champions League glory and there are no standout players at the World Cup. But given Salah and Liverpool’s poor start to the 2022-23 season, this looks unlikely.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo had his worst Ballon d’Or performance in 17 years as he finished 20th in 2022.

It’s going to be even harder for Ronaldo in 2023. For starters, he is now approaching 38 and looks like a declining player. He has mainly been a substitute for Man Utd this season and has scored only two goals in all competitions – one of them a penalty in the Europa League.

Man Utd are not in the Champions League, so he instantly loses a lot of credit there.

Ronaldo does have a chance if he can lead Portugal to World Cup glory, although that seems a tough ask given the way they struggled to qualify.