The Ballon d'Or Award is an annual award for the best international football player, awarded by a panel of selected journalists from the top football playing countries. In the lead up to the Ballon d'Or in 2024 there is a lot of speculation about who will win. We have scoured the web and found these predictions for the men's and women's award.

Men's Ballon d'Or for 2024

The 2024 award was decided over the 2023/24 season as well as the 2024 international tournaments (including Euro 2024). In 2023, Lionel Messi won a record eighth Ballon d'Or award. That was the end of an era, his last Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo, another player who has jointly dominated the Ballon d'Or in the last 15 years, is also probably no longer a contender. Both Messi and Ronaldo were left off the list of nominees for 2024, the first time this had happened since 2003.

How did the top football websites rank the contenders for the men's Ballon d'Or in 2024? We collated the opinions of a few of the top football websites to compare.

There was no clear favorite. The 2023 Kopa Trophy (for the best U/21 player) winner Jude Bellingham was an early favorite, though as the year progressed, Rodri's performances, culminating in the Euro 2024 Player of the Tournament final, had him as one of the favorites.

The 2024 winner was Rodri.

Predictor 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Sportingnews.com (Oct 23) Bellingham Mbappe Haaland
Football Manager 2024 (Nov 23) Mbappe Lewandowski Bellingham
BBC Vote (Oct 23) Bellingham Haaland Mbappe Kane Vinicius Jr
goal.com (Sept 24) Vinicius Jr Rodri Bellingham Carvajal Martinez
goal.com (July 24) Rodri Vinicius Jr Bellingham  Carvajal Martinez 
goal.com (Oct 23) Bellingham Mbappe Haaland Kane Mo Salah 
90min.com (Jul 24) Vinicius Jr Bellingham Mbappe Kane Rodri
Givemesport.com (Jul 24) Vinicius Jr Rodri Bellingham Yamal Mbappe
Givemesport.com (Sep 24) Rodri Vinicius Jr Bellingham Yamal Mbappe
Gambling.com (Sep 2024) Vinicius Jr Rodri Bellingham Carvajal Yamal
Independent Betting (Nov 23) Bellingham Mbappe Haaland Kane Messi
3 Added Minutes (Oct 23) Haaland Bellingham Mbappe Kane Rodri

Women's Ballon d'Or

Predictions for the women's Ballon d'Or 2024 award were much harder to find, though much more in consensus. The 2024 winner was of course Aitana Bonmati, as predicted.

Predictor 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
goal.com (May 2024) Aitana Bonmati Caroline Graham Hansen Kadidiatou Diani Salma Paralluelo Mariona Caldentey 
goal.com (Sep 2024) Aitana Bonmati Caroline Graham Hansen Salma Paralluelo Mariona Caldentey  Sophia Smith
sportsbrief.com (Jun 2024) Aitana Bonmati Caroline Graham Hansen Salma Paralluelo Mariona Caldentey  Kadidiatou Diani

Sources:

  • sportingnews.com: only three players were listed (from Oct 2023)
  • Football Manager 2024: in November 2023 they predicted the next ten Ballon d'Or winners. In 2024, the predicted winner was Kylian Mbappe (they also predicted that he would win in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
  • BBC Voting: On an online vote, 47% of people thought Jude Bellingham would win in 2024, 31% of them thought it would be Erling Haaland (from Oct 2023)
  • goal.com: based on the power ranking taken at different times in the year
  • 90min.com: "The favourites to win the Ballon d'Or 2024 - ranked"
  • Givemesport.com: They have ranked the players based on these factors: Goals scored, Assists, Clean sheets (if defensive-minded), Trophies won/challenging for, Big moments in 2023-24 and in major international tournaments and General form.
  • Independent Betting: based on betting odds listed on https://www.independent.co.uk/
  • 3 Added Minutes: (article published 31 Oct 2023)
  • Gambling.com: final list based on betting odds