Out of 100 Ballon d’Or voters, only one journalist placed a player other than Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappé at the top of his ballot.
In Ballon d’Or voting, there are always some discrepancies. A journalist who decides to vote for a player he likes is going against public opinion. This makes it possible to distribute points among the 30 players mentioned, in order to determine a real ranking.
For the 2023 edition, if we only look at the players ranked first by voters, there is a certain consistency. It is clearly Lionel Messi who comes out on top, with 65 No. 1 places. He is followed by Erling Haaland (top 21) and Kylian Mbappe (8). There is a fourth player who won first place.
It is not about Julian Alvarez, the only player who has contributed effectively to the success of Argentina and Manchester City. It’s also not about Kevin De Bruyne or Rodri, who could have received a boost from the Belgian or Spanish journalist. No, from Portugal comes the “dissident” vote.
Indeed, the Lusitanian journalist chose to put Bernardo Silva at the top of his votes, while the Portuguese was not the most prominent player in Manchester City, even if he remained a key man in Pep Guardiola’s team. However, this allows the former Monaco player to move up the rankings by reaching ninth place. The rest of the Portuguese journalist’s votes? In second place we find another Portuguese-speaking player, Vinicius Junior. Then comes the “real” podium finisher, Messi-Haaland-Mbappe, in that order.
