We may see the most competitive shortlist of The Ballon d'Or winners ever, and French football magazine will announce the list of 30 candidates for the 2021 awards on Friday afternoon.
The ceremony will take place on November 29, which was not awarded last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and while Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the award over the past decade, no one can now be sure which player will ultimately take home the trophy for his outstanding performance in 2021.
Lewandowski is once again a promising candidate after breaking Gade Müller's goal record in a single Bundesliga season, despite calls for Chelsea's Champions League-winning midfielders N'Golo Kante or Jorginho to win the award.
Players come from the country side, with the most players from two teams in the European Cup final: Italy and England. Germany, the consistent European football powerhouse, did not have players to enter the final this time, which to some extent illustrates the fault line in Germany's Mesozoic players.
There are three Spanish players on the list, thanks to Spain's outstanding performances at this summer's European Championships, namely Pedri, Azpilicueta and Gerald Moreno.
The return of The Manchester United player to the shortlist, which could be very frustrating to Woodward, is now likely to honour the Golden Ball Award clause on the player's contract, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandez both making the final shortlist.
In this list, Manchester City has the largest number of players, reaching 5, even surpassing European champions Chelsea, namely Ruben Díaz, Phil Foden, Mahrez, Sterling and De Bruyne, which highlights their outstanding results in the Premier League and Champions League last season.
Counting this list of candidates, the striker accounts for up to half (15), the midfielder (9) followed, and the defender and goalkeeper (6) are few.
Interestingly, Gianluigi Donnarumma, one of the shortlisted 30-man candidates, is hopeful to become the first goalkeeper in history to win the Euro 2020 with Italy.
There are players of all ages on this list, but what attracts more attention is not Messi and C Ronaldo, but the young people who have risen to prominence in the past two years, such as Mbappe, Haland, Pedri, Mount, Foden, Barrera and others, who will also be a new generation of stars shining in the future world football.
List of 2021 Golden Globe Nominees
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Janluigi Donalumma (Paris Saint-Germain)
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Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
George Chiellini (Juventus)
Simon Quetzal (AC Milan)
Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > midfielder</h1>
Ngolo Kante (Chelsea)
Mason Mount (Chelsea)
Niccolò Barrera (Inter Milan)
Bruno Fernandez (Manchester United)
Pedri (Barcelona)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Jorginho (Chelsea)
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > forward</h1>
Riyadh Mahrez (Manchester City)
Erin Haaland (Dortmund)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Mohammed Salah (Liverpool)
Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Killian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Gerald Moreno (Villarreal)
Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid)