…There were no surprises at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony, with the two World Cup winners taking the prizes
The wait is over, and it is now official that Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmati are the winners of the 2023 Ballon d’Ors. The Argentina and Inter Miami star took the men’s prize home from Paris on Monday evening, while the Barcelona and Spain midfielder claimed the women’s prize.
Messi officially took home the 2023 Ballon d’Or on Monday evening, being selected to win the award for an eighth time in his career. His triumph at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar not only put an exclamation mark on a career for the ages, but realistically it catapulted him back into contention for the Ballon d’Or trophy.
Despite being outscored by Erling Haaland last season, Messi’s individual performances were aided greatly by his play in Qatar, and many predicted he would win the award.
Aitana Bonmati is officially the best female footballer in the world, and she took home the Ballon d’Or for 2023. The Barcelona midfielder enjoyed a spectacular year in which she also lifted the Women’s World Cup with Spain. She won the Golden Ball for being the tournament’s best player and scored 19 goals in 37 appearances for her club side.
With her club, Bonmati was key as Barcelona won honours domestically and won the Women’s Champions League as well, coming from 2-0 behind in the final.
Gerd Müller Trophy 2023 winner
Erling Haaland
Kopa Trophy 2023 winner
Jude Bellingham
Yashin Trophy 2023 winner
Emi Martinez
Socrates Award 2023 winner
Vinicius Junior
Men’s Club of the Year award
Man City
This is another special year for Messi with an award that he has dominated since 2009, as he has lifted it in these years: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
And all of them, without any major contestation, except for 2021, in which he shared merits with Robert Lewandowski. An eighth Ballon d’Or that is now far ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s five (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017). Behind are the three of Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff.
Messi is again the ‘king of Paris’ – last year he was not even among the nominees – after being the ‘king of Qatar’ in December 2022.
The Ballon d’Or rewards the 2022-23 season and not even Erling Haaland’s triple with Manchester City could hold sway with the voting journalists in judging who should be this year’s winner.
Haaland won the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, and scored 52 goals in 53 total games for City.
Messi’s dominance
Messi dominated the competition that everyone wants to dominate in history: a World Cup, which has more power than any other title, especially if you do it while being the tournament’s best player and Silver Shoe (seven goals and three assists in seven games) behind Kylian Mbappe. Messi scored in the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and in that epic final against France.
MARCA asked the Argentine in August this year about the possibility of receiving this eighth Ballon d’Or and this was his response in his first appearance as an Inter Miami player: “I think I’ve said it many times during my career. The Ballon d’Or is a very important award because of what it means. For its recognition, it is one of the most beautiful awards in the world on an individual level. But I never gave importance, in inverted commas, to individual awards.
“The most important thing was the collective awards. I was lucky enough to win everything in my career, and the World Cup was what I was missing. That’s why now, after Qatar, I’m thinking much less about that prize. Now I’m enjoying my moment. I’m not thinking about the Ballon d’Or. If it comes, good; and if not, I’m satisfied that I have achieved my objectives and… now I have others with this club. This is what we came here for, to help the club win titles and on a personal level I’m also thinking about that”.
