It is revealed how many votes Erling Haaland had in the 2023 Ballon d'Or

Erling Haaland had one of the best seasons a footballer could have this season. The Norwegian striker significantly positioned himself as one of the best footballers after winning the UEFA Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup. In addition, he was the scorer in two of those three competitions. These records made him one of the great candidates to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or. However, it was finally Lionel Messi who won the award.

Voting for the Ballon d'Or awarded by France Football works this way. Each jury must indicate, in order, their top 5. Then 6 points are distributed to the first option, 4 points to the second, 3, 2 and 1 points successively among the five voted players. The final winner of the award, in this case Messi, is the one who has obtained the most votes from the total sum of the votes of the 100 journalists, one journalist for each of the 100 best countries in the FIFA ranking. This year the number of voters was reduced from the usual 170 to 100.

Leo Messi consecrated himself at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with his eighth Ballon d'Or. Erling Haaland came in second place and Kylian Mbappé closed the final podium. The one hundred journalists who voted for the final shortlist of the 30 finalists chose the Argentine from Inter Miami as the best player of the season and awarded him 462 points. A difference of 105 points with his closest pursuer, Erling Braut Haaland.

The details of the Ballon d'Or voting

Messi was chosen as the first choice for 68 of the 100 journalists. Among them Álfredo Relaño, Honorary President of Diario AS and Spanish journalist who votes in the Ballon d'Or. The rest was distributed between Haaland and Mbappé, except Bernardo Silva who was the best for the journalist from Portugal. As a curiosity, it also stands out that the French representative preferred to give the maximum points to Haaland instead of his compatriot Mbappé.