Award nomination: Seven Germans nominated for Ballon d’Or

Four German football professionals in the men’s category and three in the women’s category are in the running for the prestigious Ballon d’Or The now retired former international player Toni Kroos is on the list of 30 names, as are Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid) and Mats Hummels, who has moved to AS Roma. Selection listAmong the women, German national players Lea Schüller, Giulia Gwinn and Sjoeke Nüsken made it onto the list.

For the first time since 2003, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi are nominated. A year ago, Messi won the trophy for the eighth time, which caused a lot of criticism.

The Ballon d’Or in men’s football has been awarded since 1956 by the French magazine France Football The winners will be announced on October 28 in Paris. A year ago, from a German perspective, only Ilkay Gündogan and Jamal Musiala made it into the top 30, both of which are missing now.

Bayer and BVB on the club list, Alonso among the coaches

From the Bundesliga, Granit Xhaka and Alejandro Grimaldo (both Leverkusen) as well as Harry Kane from Bayern Munich are also on the list. In the vote for club of the year, the German champions Bayer Leverkusen and the Champions League-Finalists Borussia Dortmund, two Bundesliga clubs are among the five nominated clubs. Leverkusener trainer Xabi Alonso is also a candidate for the Coach of the Year award.

The winner was initially considered “Europe’s Footballer of the Year”, and since 2007 the world’s best footballer has been chosen in competition with FIFA’s World Footballer of the Year award (since 1991). From 2010 to 2015 the newspaper and the world association cooperated in the selection of the World Footballer, and since 2016 two different prizes have been awarded.