Foden 11th, Saka 21st: The Ballon d’Or Top 30 IN FULL

The 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony is set to kick off shortly and the first rankings of the top 30 are getting revealed.

The 2024 edition of football’s biggest individual award is set to see neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi win the Ballon d’Or for the first time since Luka Modric achieved this feat in 2018.

Vinicius Jr had been the favourite to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, but the leaks were clearly wrong, with the player and the entire Real Madrid organisation boycotting the ceremony, convinced that neither the Brazilian nor any other Los Blancos star would win.

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This leaves Man City star Rodri as the clear favourite, having won the Premier League and Euro 2024 this year, while generally being regarded as the world’s best midfielder at present.

We will not know for sure, however, until the end results are officially revealed. Below FootballTransfers will publish the entire men’s and women’s top 30 ranking of the 2024 Ballon d’Or as the names are revealed…

2024 Ballon d’Or ranking

The ceremony starts at 8:45 pm CET, but France Football has already begun revealing the first names on the top 30 ranking, with Chelsea talisman Cole Palmer and Arsenal stars Declan Rice and William Saliba all publicised early on.

AS Roma stars Artem Dovbyk and Mats Hummels share 29th after the former finished as LaLiga’s top scorer with Girona in 2023/24, while the latter played a crucial role in Borussia Dortmund reaching the Champions League final.

The Premier League is represented by several star players such as Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Man City title-winners Phil Foden and Ruben Dias. As expected, many Real Madrid stars feature in the top 30 after winning a LaLiga and Champions League double.

Several of Spain’s Euro 2024 heroes make the list, with Nico Williams, Dani Olmo and, of course, Rodri getting honoured.

Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, after going the entire domestic 2023/24 season unbeaten, are represented by Alejandro Grimaldo, Granit Xhaka and Florian Wirtz, with the man who ended their invincible campaign in the Europe League final – Ademola Lookman – also included.

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On the women’s side, 2024 Champions League winners Barcelona are well represented, with midfielder Aitana Bonmati expected to retain her 2023 Ballon d’Or award.

Perennial Women’s Super League champions Chelsea also feature heavily with players such as Sjoeke Nusken, Lauren James and ex-Barcelona superstar Lucy Bronze.