Of the 100 voters for the Ballon d’Or, only one journalist placed a player other than Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland or Kylian MbappĂ© at the top of his ballot.
In the votes for the Ballon d’Or, there are always some incongruities. A journalist who decides to vote for a player he likes, going against general opinion. This is what makes it possible to distribute the points between the 30 named players, in order to establish a real ranking.
For this 2023 edition, if we only look at the players placed in first place by the voters, there is a certain consistency. It is Lionel Messi who comes clearly in the lead, with 65 No. 1 places. Then come Erling Haaland (first 21 places) and Kylian Mbappé (8). And there is a fourth player who got a first place.
It’s not about Julian Alvarez, the only player to have actively contributed to the success of Argentina and Manchester City. Nor is it about Kevin De Bruyne or Rodri, who could have received a boost from the Belgian journalist or the Spanish journalist. No, it is from Portugal that the “dissident” vote comes.
The Lusitano journalist has indeed chosen to place Bernardo Silva at the top of his vote, while the Portuguese has not been the most prominent player at Manchester City, even if he remains a key man in Pep’s team Guardiola. In any case, this allows the former Monaco player to climb the rankings by reaching 9th place. The rest of the Portuguese journalist’s vote? In second place we find another Portuguese-speaking player, Vinicius Jr. Then comes the “real” podium, Messi-Haaland-MbappĂ©, in that order.
