Little suspense is expected today at the Theater du Chatelet in Paris, whose red carpet will welcome the candidates for the 2023 male and female Ballon d'Or starting at 8 p.m. Everything indicates that for Aitana Bonmatí, FC Barcelona footballer and international with the Spanish team, it will be the first. And that Leo Messi, Inter Miami player, will achieve the eighth for his account, thus establishing a record that seems unattainable. Both athletes are separated by 7 Ballon d'Ors and 11 years of age. But they are also united by a life at Barça and of course the achievement of the women's World Cup with Spain in Australia and New Zealand and the men's World Cup with Argentina in Qatar, respectively.
The epic surrounds the World Cup of Leo Messi, captain of the Argentine team, who, after years of competing, finally achieved his star. Which makes him the total footballer who, now, has no pending accounts. Despite having signed his last season with PSG much more discreetly with a League and a French Super Cup to his name, Messi was the true architect of the Albiceleste's triumph, scoring seven goals. By itself, this epic and long-awaited victory with a taste of last opportunities seems to lead him to achieve the award organized by France Football magazine and in which journalists from all over the world vote. The new award will arrive 14 years after the first, won in 2009 and followed by those in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021. The five Ballon d'Ors won by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo are far behind, who stopped his count at 2017. Despite being 36 years old, with Messi no one dares to say if it will be the last. But if he wins, it will be the first time that the Ballon d'Or goes to a footballer who no longer plays in Europe.
The Argentine, who considered returning to Barça but decided on Miami after analyzing the club's lack of financial stability, will meet again with president Joan Laporta. The president travels with the vice presidents Rafa Yuste and Elena Fort, the women's soccer director, Xavi Puig, and Joan Soler, member of the sports commission to accompany Aitana Bonmatí.
The player's favoritism is even clearer than Messi's. After years of intense work that led her to play in the men's teams of Club Deportiu Ribes and CF Cubelles first and to Barça when it was not yet a professional section, Aitana arrives in Paris at the age of 25 as the best player in the World Cup and MVP from the last edition of the Champions League with Barça. The midfielder, who is in Switzerland concentrating with the Spanish team, will attend with a plane chartered by the Federation along with Salma Paralluelo, another Barcelona nominee. The presence of her predecessor, Alexia Putellas, also concentrated with Spain, is not expected. The national team plays a Nations League match against Switzerland tomorrow.
The also nominated Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and Fridolina Rolfö, the captain Marta Torrejón and the Barça women's coach Jonatan Giráldez will attend from Barcelona. Goalkeeper Ter Stegen (nominated for the Yachine trophy) and Alejandro Balde (Kopa) travel on the men's team. Another candidate for the golden ball will also attend: Ilkay Gündogan. As she already did when she collected The Best award, Aitana, who will register her name on a list opened in 2018 by Ada Hegerberg, is expected to take advantage of the loudspeaker to send a message of empowerment for women's football after the outbreak of the Rubiales case. that has plunged the RFEF into a restructuring process.
