Ballon d'Or: 2024 Nominees revealed with Messi and Ronaldo NOT included | Morning Footy | CBS Sports

All right. So yesterday the Ballon d'Or nominations came out. So let's take a look at the 30 names on this list for football's most prestigious individual honor. Noteworthy though, this is the first time since 2003 that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, those two names are not included. First time in 21 years. So you know what that means. Guys are not on there. What does it mean, Charlie? Tell me. We got a guaranteed first time winner. That's pretty cool, because. Because Luka modric and Karim Benzema are the only two players who are currently playing, who have won a Ballon d'Or, who are not on the list. So therefore we get a guaranteed first time winner. What name shocks you the most from this list? Which name excites me? The most? Shocks you shocks me the most. Yeah, not for a bad reason. It could just be a good reason, I'd say Bettina. Bettina is one of the ones that stand out. Artem Dovbyk had a really good season. I wouldn't say it was like Ballon d'Or worthy, but an incredibly good season. Ademola Lookman. Lookman yeah, no. You score a hat trick in a Europa League final and that makes you a Ballon d'Or candidate. Yeah, because of one game. Because of 90 minutes of soccer. He he had fantastic performances throughout the season. But if you score a hat trick in a European final, I mean you're not going to get on the list. So if he didn't, if he didn't score that hat trick in 90 minutes, he convinced France football in 90 minutes. Three goals in 90 minutes to be amongst the 30 best players in the Europa League. Would you take I have a question. Yes. Today. Today today. Would you take Messi or Ademola Lookman? Messi when he's fit right right. But he's not okay the day before the final for Atalanta, I tell you, you can either choose Ademola Lookman or Messi to play for your team. Is Messi fit or is he? Yeah he's fit. Of course he's fit. Of course he's fit. I'm taking Messi. Messi. We're talking about Messi have been included in this list of 30 names. Was there a case to be made? He was never going to win the Ballon d'Or. No. Not even not even top three. But win it. But should he have been included? No, he should not. 30. He shouldn't have. He should not. It's very difficult to make an argument for Messi to be on on on a list. You look at his Copa America performances, you look at his performances. He hasn't been he hasn't been healthy. But how can you be on this list? Didn't you get the sense that the last year was a bit of a swan song for him? It was like, all right, you won the World Cup. You did everything you were supposed to do. Yeah. You're done, you're good. You know? Now let's move on. Let's get the younger generation. Yeah Then I don't know. I'm looking at this list and you say first time winner. Don't you feel it's a little bit weak? It's no Jude Bellingham. Erling Haaland Vinny Junior Vinny Junior Rodri Rodri had a really strong season. Yeah but this is a list where I look and I go. You don't have to be a crazy mercurial striker or goal scorer to win the award. Rodri even Dani Carvajal have every right to be on this list. And absolutely. And so I'm excited about that. There's an ushering of a whole new generation, you know, we're all Lamine Yamal certainly deserves to be on the list. You've got Florian Wirtz, maybe not the strongest candidate after his euros, but deserves to be on the list. You have some new talent now, Jude Bellingham. Being as young as he is, you have some new talent that deserves to be on this list. I actually like the fact that it's ushering in a whole new generation for sure. People will probably be seeing on these lists for year after year after year. I agree, but I look at this list without Messi, without Ronaldo, and we were so spoiled almost for the last 20 something years to get extraordinary lists of Ballon d'Or candidates that are all timers, all timers, every single one of them, one through ten. And I'm looking at this list like Artem Dovbyk is on there. He had a great season with 30, though. This isn't the one through ten, right? Right. I get it. But if you look at the extended list the last time that Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi weren't there, and you look at the extended list, not just one through ten, one through and several notables other there like legend, legend, legend, legend, really young guys. And in hindsight, I might be wrong in hindsight. In hindsight I might be wrong. But are these guys are these guys going to be fulfilling the potential that a 2003 nominee list? Would you have said that about Luka modric when he was on Tottenham? Yeah, but he wasn't nominated for Ballon d'Or. But then on Real Madrid when he was nominated, he was the guy, you know like a lot of a lot of a lot of the guys that were nominated. We could see that list from 2003. Wait, so you're saying Kylian Mbappe? Oh here we go Vinny Junior this is one through ten Pavel Nedved. Look at that list. Wow look at that. Yeah but that's in hindsight. Yeah dude you're in hindsight. You're going to be the guy that before you're even 50 you're going to say, back in my day I could feel that I'm 30, I'm 30 and I'm saying it already have you have you thought about what Erling Haaland is doing now? Yeah, yeah, of course I think in 20 years I'm not saying I'm not saying not to. No. He's not even the top candidate on the list. We just looked at I know, which is crazy. Not not the notable nominees on the right hand side for 2024. I think there's a group of 6 or 7 guys that are very well deserving of the award, and they have the strongest case in your opinion. I don't think anybody has a clear cut, strong case, like, like front runner, obvious front runner. I disagree. Do you think Vinny Junior Vinny Jr had an incredible season scored in the champions League final as far as I'm concerned. Scored the winning goal. But look look you're not adding country form. No he played that plays a big role. He played three games in the Copa America and then got suspended for the quarterfinal that Brazil got eliminated in. To further my point, usually in the Ballon d'Or race, someone has a strong year, a robust year of racking up titles, league international with the club and with the country to kind of just seal the deal. The only Spanish guy that won, champions that won this league and that won the Euro is Dani Carvajal. They're not going to give it to a right back. No. And would you hold it against Erling Haaland his his international form, his lack of his country in qualifying. Yeah I mean when he's one of the one of the greatest players in the league right now I know in in all leagues. Yeah I mean similarly what about Rodri with Manchester City. Rodri had Rodri was great with Manchester City and he was phenomenal in the euros. Phenomenal. He very well could be a front runner too. I could see him winning. It would probably be the most boring is a strong term but it would be the most boring pick if he wins. I couldn't think of a better word. Even if you even if you went with Jude Bellingham, you know it's still not like your typical Ballon d'Or winner who's banging in 30. Think about it. Think about, of course, especially because he had such a rough second half of the season. He had an incredible first half to the season, but they win a champions League final. England makes it to the finals in the euros. I mean is he good at the euros he scored? He had the game changing goal. The winner against Slovakia. Yeah I but again big moments. I don't think he had a big moments. I don't think he had a Ballon d'Or performance at the euros. I think Rodri had a more Ballon d'Or worthy performance at the euros than Jude Bellingham. If you're saying both club and country, Rodri is the only answer. He is he. Dani Carvajal on both levels and Carvajal. But in terms of those two, I think Rodri would would win it over Carvajal. Can I throw someone out there that obviously is not going to win, but has club and country? Lautaro Martinez was top goalscorer in Syria, won the Syria and won the Copa América, being top goal scorer at the Copa América. That's a great shout. Why? It's not going to happen, but why? Why will it not happen? Why will he get overlooked? Didn't have a strong Champions League. He's a starter 100% for Argentina because he didn't start every match for no. Yeah, yeah. No I know no you wouldn't. How can you give a Ballon d'Or to someone who doesn't even start in their national team? No I know, I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. This is where we are. Usually there's a guy that it's like, okay, he smashed it the year. The year Luka modric smashed it and Luka modric got to the final of a World Cup. Right. Yeah Luka modric was there in every competition. You said okay even if he didn't win all of them, he he's primed to be the best player in the world. Deserved it. I don't know if we can even say that about Bellingham who got to the final of the euros. Not even Rodri didn't get to the finals of the Champions League. But let's also not forget that this is essentially a popularity contest. You know the standards. No but this is no. This is the Xavi, the top 100 journalists. Yeah sorry. The top journalists from the top 100 FIFA men's ranking countries. Those are the so not us journalists. Yeah. Not us. It's. I was checking my email and I'm like, man, when is it coming through? So it's not necessarily what I'm saying. What I'm saying is the standards with which we're holding it is not exactly how the voting is always going to go. And if you're only going to give it to someone who's performing at the top club and country, then you're down to Rodri and Carvajal. That's it. Yeah, I think this was a tricky one because you need to. You need to look at it. You need to look at it from a purely football perspective. Who's the best player in the world? Because not I think it's difficult if you're just leaving it at accolades for the season. Right. For the 2023, 2024 season, you got to see who is. And Rodri is very well could be there when it was when France football paired itself with FIFA and they were doing captains for all member associations, coaches for all member associations. A journalist from every member association. And I think there was a percentage of fan vote, if I'm not mistaken. I think there was more of a popularity contest. But here I trust France football has an unbelievable track record of prestige and credibility for their journalists to kind of make the right choice here. I mean, I think the only guaranteed thing is the Kopa Trophy to Lumen Field. Yeah, that's the only guarantee. Best young player. Fair. All right, let's turn it over to the women's Ballon d'Or nominees. Take a look at the 30 names that make up that list. Itana Bonmati. Last year's winner. Right there. Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson. But the big shock on this one, people were quite upset that Naomi Girma was not included on this list, which does seem to be an egregious omission. Yeah, the best central defender in the women's game. You know, another central defender, William Saliba, got on the list for the men's side. But she doesn't get on this one. And I would compare their games. It's pretty crazy. How do you feel about that Chuck yeah, it's unfortunate because she definitely deserves to be on this list, she was arguably the best player on the pitch in the Olympics. She's arguably the best center back in the world. Yeah, she was sensational. Sensational. So when you look at this list, Alexis, I mean, last year it felt like it was. It was pretty obvious that Bonmati was going to win, especially on the heels of what Spain had done in in the world Cup. It was Alexia Putellas the year before, but this year it feels like it's a little bit less obvious. Similar to the men's. Would you agree? Yeah, I think the same qualifications that we have for the men we're going to have to consider for the women because when like you said, when I won, everyone knew this is the best player in the world right now. There's no one that absolutely stands out that you say had an incredible international. You know, tournament, had an incredible season, scored the most in their league, so on and so forth. Maybe Champions League if you're taking into consideration just the Europeans, there's no one that stands out at that level that I've seen on this list that you immediately say, that's the one I could see. I Belmonte winning it again, though, if you had to vote for an American, who would you give your vote to? That's the problem with the Americans is they're going to probably split their votes, because I don't think you would say all would say Trinity. Robin, I don't think I would say Sophia Smith or Mal Swanson or, Sophia Smith probably edges everyone out just because of her. I think Lindsey Horan will get votes. So I feel like the Americans are all working against each other in this scenario. But if you're looking at some of the other candidates, you know, Khadija Bunny Shaw, had she not tore her ACL, she was crushing it. Yeah she was Barbara band on there. Myra. Yeah she is Myra Ramirez was sensational for Colombia and for Chelsea. I mean, just left Levante to go to Chelsea and I thought, oh, we're going to. She absolutely lit the league on fire. She was incredible, and then I'll always be a huge fan of Caroline Graham Hansen. She is such a baller. Yeah. Great So there are a number of top, top players. It's interesting both with the men's and women's. There's no clear front runner. It's good. Yeah It makes for interesting conversations for us. It does feel like some of the American names are at a slight disadvantage because there's the lack of Champions League. Champions League gives the Europeans just a little bit a little bit of extra sauce. That's true. Hey, hey. It's true. Hey, I'm