Ballon d'Or 2024, it's award day: the Nerazzurri candidates

It is the day of the Ballon d'Or 2024: the award ceremony of the prestigious prize given by France Football will be held this evening at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in the heart of Paris. This will be the 68th edition of the award, which was first presented in 1956 to reward the best player of the year.

There are three Nerazzurri players who will be featured at the Ballon d'Or 2024 this evening: Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu have been included in the 30 candidates shortlisted to win the award, while Yann Sommer is part of the list of 10 goalkeepers who could win the Yashin Trophy, the award for the best goalkeeper of the year.

The first Nerazzurri player to learn where he has finished in the ranking is Hakan Calhanoglu: the Turk has come in 20th place. It is a highly significant number for him given he wears the No.20 shirt and was a key figure in Inter’s 20th Scudetto triumph.

BALLON D'OR 2024: LIVE RANKING:

• Lautaro Martinez

• Jude Bellingham

• Erling Haaland

• Toni Kroos

• Vinicius Jr.

• Rodri

• Harry Kane

• Dani Carvajal

• Lamine Yamal

• Kylian Mbappé

11. Phil Foden 12. Florian Wirtz 13. Dani Olmo 14. Ademola Lookman 15. Nico Williams 16. Granit Xhaka 17. Federico Valverde 18. Emiliano Martinez 19. Martin Odegaard 20. Hakan Calhanoglu 21. Bukayo Saka 22. Antonio Rudiger 23. Ruben Dias 24. William Saliba 25. Cole Palmer 26. Declan Rice 27. Vitinha 28. Alejandro Grimaldo 29. Artem Dovbyk 29. Mats Hummels

LAUTARO MARTINEZ

2024 is the third Ballon d'Or nomination for Lautaro Martinez. The Nerazzurri captain finished 21st in 2021 and 20th in 2023. As reported by France Football, he played 60 matches between Inter and Argentina during the 2023/24 season , scoring 35 goals and providing 4 assists. The year 2024 was a magical one for Lautaro: Champion of Italy, top scorer and MVP of Serie A and winner of the Copa America with Argentina, a competition in which he was also the top scorer.

HAKAN CALHANOGLU

The heartbeat of the Inter side that won the 20th Scudetto and the Second Star, Hakan Calhanoglu is among the candidates for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career. The Turkish midfielder was a vital figure for the Nerazzurri last season: in total, Calhanoglu collected 52 appearances, 17 goals and 3 assists between club and international matches, also winning the award for best midfielder of Serie A 2023/24.

Thanks to these numbers, the midfielder has finished in 20th place in the 2024 Men's Ballon d'Or ranking.

THE CEREMONY AND AWARDS: SOMMER AND THE YASHIN TROPHY

During the ceremony on Monday 28 October, several awards will be presented to the best players of the past season: in addition to the Men's and Women's Ballon d'Or, there will be awards for the Kopa Trophy (best U21 player), the Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper), the Gerd Müller Award (best goal scorer of the season) and the Club of the Year awards, both for men and women. In addition to the usual awards, the 2024 edition sees the inclusion of two new awards: the Men‘s Coach of the Year Trophy and the Women's Coach of the Year Trophy.

Another Nerazzurri player is among the candidates for one of the awards: in addition to Lautaro and Calhanoglu for the Ballon d'Or, Yann Sommer is on the list of 10 goalkeepers nominated to win the Yashin Trophy 2024.

This is the complete list:

• Yann Sommer

• Diogo Costa

• Gianluigi Donnarumma

• Gregor Kobel

• Andrij Lunin

• Mike Maignan

• Giorgi Mamardashvili

• Emiliano Martinez

• Unai Simon

• Ronwen Williams

YANN SOMMER

Nerazzurri goalkeeper Yann Sommer has been instrumental in Inter's pursuit of the Second Star. The Swiss goalkeeper was unbeaten in 19 full matches in the 2023/24 season: no foreign goalkeeper has ever done better in a Serie A season in the era of three points per win (19 clean sheets also to Sebastian Frey in 2006/07 with Fiorentina). Within the same period (since 1994/95) Yann also became the Inter goalkeeper who collected the most clean sheets in a single season. In addition to these great achievements, Sommer's numbers with Switzerland, which made it to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, must also be added: In total, Yann played 54 matches and collected 27 clean sheets.

BALLON D'OR: HOW IT WORKS

The Ballon d'Or is awarded based on the votes of a panel of journalists, with one journalist per country representing the top 100 teams in the FIFA ranking (and top 50 for the FIFA women's ranking). Each journalist creates their personal shortlist, assigning: 6 points to the first choice, 4 to the second, 3 to the third, 2 to the fourth, and 1 to the fifth.

The voting is based on the completed season, from August 2023 to July 2024. The criteria influencing the choices include the player's performance, successes with their club, behaviour on the pitch, and fair play.

LIST OF BALLON D'OR WINNERS

• 1956: Stanley Matthews (Eng)

• 1957: Alfredo Di Stefano (Spa)

• 1958: Raymond Kopa (Fra)

• 1959: Alfredo Di Stefano (Spa)

• 1960: Luis Suarez (Spa)

• 1961: Omar Sivori (Ita)

• 1962: Josef Masopust (Cze)

• 1963: Lev Yashin (USSR)

• 1964: Denis Law (Sco)

• 1965: Eusebio (Por)

• 1966: Bobby Charlton (Eng)

• 1967: Florian Albert (Hun)

• 1968: George Best (NI)

• 1969: Gianni Rivera (Ita)

• 1970: Gerd Muller (Ger)

• 1971: Johan Cruyff (Net)

• 1972: Franz Beckenbauer (Ger)

• 1973: Johan Cruyff (Net)

• 1974: Johan Cruyff (Net)

• 1975: Oleg Blokhin (USSR)

• 1976: Franz Beckenbauer (Ger)

• 1977: Alan Simonsen (Den)

• 1978: Kevin Keegan (Eng)

• 1979: Kevin Keegan (Eng)

• 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger)

• 1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger)

• 1982: Paolo Rossi (Ita)

• 1983: Michel Platini (Fra)

• 1984: Michel Platini (Fra)

• 1985: Michel Platini (Fra)

• 1986: Igor Belanov (USSR)

• 1987: Ruud Gullit (Net)

• 1988: Marco van Basten (Net)

• 1989: Marco van Basten (Net)

• 1990: Lothar Matthaeus (Ger)

• 1991: Jean Pierre Papin (Fra)

• 1992: Marco van Basten (Net)

• 1993: Roberto Baggio (Ita)

• 1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Bul)

• 1995: George Weah (Lib)

• 1996: Matthias Sammer (Ger)

• 1997: Ronaldo (Bra)

• 1998: Zinedine Zidane (Fra)

• 1999: Rivaldo (Bra)

• 2000: Luis Figo (Por)

• 2001: Michael Owen (Eng)

• 2002: Ronaldo (Bra)

• 2003: Pavel Nedved (Cze)

• 2004: Andrei Shevchenko (Ukr)

• 2005: Ronaldinho (Bra)

• 2006: Fabio Cannavaro (Ita)

• 2007: Kakà (Bra)

• 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Por)

• 2009: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2010: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2011: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2012: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo (Por)

• 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo (Por)

• 2015: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (Por)

• 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (Por)

• 2018: Luka Modric (Cro)

• 2019: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2020: Not awarded

• 2021: Lionel Messi (Arg)

• 2022: Karim Benzema (Fra)

• 2023: Lionel Messi (Arg)