Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, is still the favourite to win the 2023 Ballon d’Or ahead of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland despite the Citizens’ historic treble (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League) success this season.
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Messi recently announced that after securing back-to-back French Ligue 1 title wins with Paris Saint-Germain he is leaving the Parisians to join Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami as a free agent.
His season also included Argentina’s World Cup win as the former Barcelona captain was named player of the tournament in Qatar last December.
Those exploits have made Messi the front-runner to win the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
According to Paddy Power, the 35-year-old is 8/15 favourite to bag his eighth individual prestigious award.
Messi is ahead of Haaland and his Man City teammate Kevin De Bruyne, who are listed as 11/8 and 11/1, respectively to win the Ballon d’Or, which is handed out later in the year.
Outside the top three candidates to win the Ballon d’Or this year, current Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema is next on the list and ranked at 80/1 to win the gong.
Here are the top six to win the Ballon d’Or award this year:
Lionel Messi 8/15
Erling Haaland 11/8
Kevin De Bruyne 11/1
Karim Benzema 80/1
Harry Kane 80/1
Kylian Mbappe 80/1
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
