The Ballon d'Or's new signs that it was wrong not to nominate Leo Messi

France Football Magazine made official the list of the 30 players nominated for the Ballon d'Or 2022 award, where Karim Benzema is the clear favorite after scoring 44 goals and sharing 15 assists last season, as well as lifting three titles. The big absentees from the list were Lionel Messi and PSG's Neymar Jr. The Argentine, with seven awards, is absent after 15 years.

After leaving Leo Messi out of the nominees, France Football Magazine and the Ballon d’Or have made a series of posts through their social media accounts, mentioning Messi and making reference to his memorable record in the history of the award.

More international soccer news:

After saying goodbye to PSG, what Ander Herrera said about Lionel Messi

What Mbappé did to cause the Argentina National Team to fail at the World Cup in Qatar

Several posts have been made commemorating Messi, but he is probably not interested in such things. Messi has had a superb start to the season with PSG and he seems to be rediscovering his best self just in time for the World Cup in November.

When will the Ballon d'Or be awarded?

The next Ballon d’Or award will be presented in a ceremony next October. The absolute favorite for the award is Karim Benzema who had a historic season with Real Madrid, winning the Champions League and La Liga titles as the club’s absolute reference in attack. Baring any surprises it will be the Frenchman who takes the award in a ceremony that will miss Leo Messi.