Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia the lone 2026 Ballon d'Or nominee to miss World Cup, first in 20 years | OneFootball

Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia is the only 2026 Ballon d'Or nominee who did not play at the World Cup. L'Équipe notes this is the first time since 2006 that only one nominee missed the tournament.

Named Champions League player of the season, the Georgian is the sole exception in a 30-man list. Georgia did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

In 2023, seven of the 30 nominees had not been to the World Cup in Qatar, among them Kvaratskhelia, Karim Benzema, Victor Osimhen, Mohamed Salah, Nicolo Barella, Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland. Despite a Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble with Manchester City, Haaland still finished second behind Lionel Messi.

In 2018, only three were in that position. Benzema, out of France contention since 2015, watched France’s triumph from afar, while Gareth Bale and Jan Oblak also missed out.

In 2014, when France Football and FIFA ran a 23-man list, only Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed the World Cup. Four years earlier, at the first FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, all 23 nominees had played in South Africa.

The last time only one nominee had not been to the World Cup was 2006, when the preselection contained 50 names, and it was Samuel Eto'o. Fresh from a huge season, he won La Liga and the Champions League with Barcelona, was Pichichi with 26 goals and scored in the final against Arsenal, yet Cameroon did not qualify for Germany.

Eto'o finished sixth that year, behind five World Cup participants, including his team-mate Ronaldinho, UEFA's player of the season. Kvaratskhelia holds an individual edge that Eto'o did not have, the Champions League player of the season prize. Whether it lifts him beyond sixth, or history repeats 20 years on, remains to be seen.

Source: L'Équipe

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