Mohamed Salah has been named on the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist for 2023, with the Liverpool winger nominated for the fifth time in a row.
Wednesday night saw the nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or award announced, with Salah the only Liverpool player on the list.
The 31-year-old has been up for the award every year since his switch to Anfield in 2018, which makes him one of only four players to have done so in that time.
Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne and Kylian Mbappe are the only others to have been nominated for the last five Ballon d’Ors.
Lionel Messi, who has won the award more times than any other player with seven, was not on the 2022 shortlist, while Cristiano Ronaldo is omitted this time out.
Remarkably, though, Salah has never placed among the top three when the Ballon d’Or has been awarded, coming sixth in 2018, fifth in 2019, seventh in 2021 and fifth in 2022.
The 2020 iteration of the awards was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the football calendar.
The closest any Liverpool player has come to winning the Ballon d’Or over the past five awards is second, with Virgil van Dijk (2019) and Sadio Mane (2022) both runners up.
Neither Van Dijk nor Mane are nominated for this year’s award, which will be announced at a ceremony on October 30.
Meanwhile, Alisson has been overlooked as one of 10 nominees for the Yashin Trophy, despite an outstanding individual year.
Ballon d’Or nominees 2023
Andre Onana – Manchester United/Cameroon
Josko Gvardiol – Manchester City/Croatia
Karim Benzema – Al Ittihad
Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich/Germany
Mohamed Salah – Liverpool/Egypt
Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid/England
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England
Randal Kolo Muani – Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City/Belgium
Bernardo Silva – Manchester City/Portugal
Emiliano Martinez – Aston Villa/Argentina
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – Napoli/Georgia
Rúben Dias – Manchester City/Portugal
Nicolo Barella – Inter Milan/Italy
Erling Haaland – Manchester City/Norway
Yassine Bounou – Al Hilal/Morocco
Martin Odegaard – Arsenal/Norway
Julian Alvarez – Manchester City/Argentina
Ilkay Gundogan – Barcelona/Germany
Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid/Brazil
Lionel Messi – Inter Miami/Argentina
Rodri – Manchester City/Spain
Lautaro Martinez – Inter Milan/Argentina
Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid/France
Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona/Poland
Kylian Mbappe – Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kim Min-jae – Napoli/South Korea
Victor Osimhen – Napoli/Nigeria
Luka Modric – Real Madrid/Croatia
Harry Kane – Bayern Munich/England
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