Raphinha, Raya, Doué, Barcola, Cristiano Ronaldo among major Ballon d'Or 2026 omissions | OneFootball

The 30-man shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or has been unveiled. According to L'Équipe, Lionel Messi returns, while Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo miss out.

Arsenal's David Raya kept 19 clean sheets in 37 league games, yet sat out the World Cup as Unai Simon started. No goalkeeper is nominated.

Manchester City's Ruben Dias is absent after injuries and Portugal's last-16 loss to Spain, 0-1. Inter's Alessandro Bastoni, despite the title, is hit by a play-off exit to Bodö-Glimt and Italy's absence.

Enzo Fernandez impressed for Argentina but saw red in the final defeat to Spain, 0-1 after extra time, having scored key goals earlier in the tournament. He produced 15 goals and seven assists for Chelsea before a €145m move to Manchester City. Pedri, 11th last year, is out after losing his starting spot to Fabian Ruiz.

Désiré Doué drops out after 14th in 2025, his PSG year blunted by early injuries and inconsistency. Bradley Barcola, now at Liverpool and PSG's top Ligue 1 scorer with 11, missed the 2-0 quarter-final first leg against Liverpool and ended up benched.

Mohamed Salah helped Egypt reach a first World Cup last 16, losing 2-3 to Argentina. His least convincing Liverpool season, 12 goals and 10 assists, included tensions with Arne Slot and a bench role in the 0-2 first leg against PSG.

Julian Alvarez is omitted after one World Cup goal, and Raphinha's injury-hit year ended in the second group match against Haiti. Messi delivered eight World Cup goals and four assists, while Benzema won the Saudi Cup, Ronaldo the Saudi league and Modric finished fifth in Serie A before a 1-2 loss to Portugal.

Source: L'Équipe

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