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| ▲This photo shows Son Heung-min. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows Messi, who was nominated in Ballon d'Or in 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows Karim Benzema. (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, August 13 (Yonhap) — Son Heung-min (30), who plays for Tottenham in the English Premier League, has been selected as one of the 30 Ballon d'Or nominees, the world's most prestigious soccer award.
France Football, the French football media that hosts the Ballon d'Or, announced the list of 30 Ballon d'Or candidates of this year on Saturday (KST).
This is the second time Son Heung-min, the first Asian player to become the top scorer by scoring 23 goals in the Premier League in the 2021-2022 season, to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or after 2019.
It is the third time that a Korean player has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or nominees, after Seol Ki-hyun who played in the Belgian league in 2002, and Park Ji-sung who played for Manchester United in England in 2005.
In 2019, Son Heung-min received 4 votes from the 5th place category from the voting group and earned 4 points, ranking 22nd out of 30 candidates.
Seol Ki-hyun and Park Ji-sung did not receive votes, and Son's 22nd place at the 2019 Ballon d'Or is the highest scorer and highest ranking record for a player not only in Korea but also in Asia.
Heung-Min Son was not selected as a nominee last year, but Son Heung-Min is the only Asian player among the 30 candidates this year.
Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona, Poland), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France), Elling Halan (Manchester City, Norway), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), Mohammed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt), Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich, Senegal), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), and Harry Kane (Tottenham, England) were nominated.
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain, Argentina), who won this award in 2019 and 2021, was not among the 30 nominees this year. It is the first time in 17 years since 2005 that Messi did not make it on the nominees list for Ballon d'Or nomination.
The award ceremony in 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19.
Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain from FC Barcelona before the 2021-2022 season, but only scored six goals in league matches.
Messi's teammate Neymar (Brazil) was also not nominated.
Winners will be announced on Oct. 17.
AFP reported that Karim Benzema is most likely to win this year's Ballon d'Or award.
Benzema from Real Madrid scored 27 goals in league matches last season, leading the team to victory, and Real Madrid topped UEFA Champions League.
If Benzema wins this year's Ballon d'Or, it will be the first French player to win the award in 24 years since Zinedine Zidane in 1998.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)
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