Now those international showpiece tournaments played this summer on either side of the Atlantic are done and dusted, it’s time to get back to what matters most: arguing about who the best men’s footballer in the world is.
Yes, we’re going to be talking Ballon d’Or.
The winner of the award for the 2023-24 season won’t be revealed until October but with the book closed on both the European Championship and Copa America, and club pre-season matches underway, we asked a group of our writers to predict who they think will be the winner.
As you’ll see, Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was a popular choice, but is the men’s Ballon d’Or that much of a foregone conclusion? Have a read of our opinions, then share yours in the comments section at the end.
The case for Rodri
Rodri. The best defensive midfielder of the past decade — probably longer. Positionally impeccable, excellent on the ball, a walking attack deterrent and, as if that weren’t enough already, a guy who pops up with goals in crucial moments.
He was the standout player for one of the best club teams in Europe last season and then was the standout player for the best team at the European Championship.
And if you can really judge a player’s value by what happens when he’s not there… well, you’ve seen the stats.
Jack Lang
Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was named player of the tournament at Euro 2024 (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
The case for Toni Kroos
The Ballon d’Or was an award created by France Football to help sell copies of that magazine in the 1950s. It’s been smart to grow it into this marvellous footballing trinket but this is an awful amount of fuss about an “Employee of the Year” award.
Now I’m finished with my annoying diatribe, Toni Kroos had an excellent 2023-24.
The 34-year-old was staggering in the intricacy and intelligence of his play, bringing grace and guile to Real Madrid on their way to La Liga and Champions League triumphs.
A midfielder other midfielders look to when wanting to describe perfect passing, a Ballon d’Or for Kroos’ final season as a player would be a nice bow on a glittering career.
Carl Anka
GO DEEPER
Toni Kroos was at the top of his game at Euro 2024 – so why is he retiring?
The case for Jude Bellingham
I know what you’re thinking: it’s too soon.
In part, I agree. Jude Bellingham turned 21 less than a month ago and hasn’t made more than 50 appearances for either Real Madrid (42) or England (36). But he already has the makings of an elite global superstar. It’s surely only a matter of time before he begins to collect Ballon d’Or trophies.
Despite his age, Bellingham is an established leader and a clutch performer for Madrid. He’s relied upon to win games for club and country, and he is fast approaching footballing royalty.
Soon, the Ballon d’Or will be his to lose. Might as well start now.
Felipe Cardenas
After a superb first season in Madrid, Bellingham’s Euros highlight was this late overhead kick to save England from last-16 defeat against Slovakia (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The case for Rodri (again)
He won’t win it, of course, because holding midfielders never do, but Rodri is an extraordinary player.
Not the most exciting suggestion, I accept, but he has been the most influential player in the Premier League for Manchester City over the past four years (as they’ve won the title in all four), as well as the most consistent, and that influence has spread to the Champions League and now to the European Championship. He’s so underrated.
Funnily enough, despite having spent the past few seasons saying how absurd it is that he’s overlooked for these awards, I’m not convinced he was Spain’s best player at Euro 2024. But my opinion here isn’t based on Spain’s success in Germany. It’s based on his performances across the whole season.
Oliver Kay
The case for Lautaro Martinez
A domestic title. Continental supremacy with his national team. A shelf’s worth of individual accolades along the way.
While these points will be used to justify Rodri’s sterling case for the award, many seem to forget about Inter Milan’s line-leading dynamo.
Lautaro Martinez was perhaps miscast as a supporting figure to club team-mate Romelu Lukaku in previous years but after the Belgian’s offseason about-face, where he was heavily linked with a loan move to Juventus rather than a return to Inter and ended up joining Roma, the Argentinian made clear he’s nothing short of being a leading man. His 24 goals in Serie A were a new career high, taking home the capocannoniere — the award for the division’s top goalscorer — eight clear of the man in second place.
He then headed stateside for Copa America, leading the field again with five goals in six games as Argentina retained the title won in Brazil three years ago.
If he isn’t going to win this award, perhaps this will be a fine enough consolation: Martinez is undoubtedly on track to be one of his generation’s finest strikers.
Jeff Rueter
GO DEEPER
Lautaro Martinez almost always has the last laugh
The case for Rodri (once again)
Sorry everyone, I think it’s Rodri as well. I would venture, to add some level of original opinion, that I don’t think he should have won the Euro 2024 player of the tournament (his Spain team-mate Fabian Ruiz was better) — although I do think he should have won the Premier League’s official player of the season award for 2023-24 (his City colleague Phil Foden was adjudged to have been better).
But the fact that, in both examples, the other candidate was a midfielder in the same team as Rodri probably says something about how he brings the best out of others.
Michael Cox
The case for Ayoub El Kaabi
I did think it was wide open this year but, more or less, it seems everyone is picking Rodri.
I have a suspicion France Football’s voters could make this year’s edition a Toni Kroos lifetime-achievement award. I’m not sure ending Pedri’s tournament and deserving a red card in Germany’s Euros quarter-final loss to Spain changes anything.
What about… Ayoub El Kaabi? Did he not score 16 times in his 19 appearances in the European club competitions last season, including a hat-trick in a 4-2 away win against Aston Villa in the first leg of a Europa Conference League semi-final and the only goal of the final as Olympiacos won their first European trophy?
It’s niche, I know. El Kaabi probably won’t even make the 30-name shortlist.
But at the very least, he should be on it.
James Horncastle
El Kaabi scored 16 goals in 19 European games as Olympiacos won last season’s Conference League (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
The case for Phil Foden
Obviously, I don’t really think Phil Foden should win the 2023-24 Ballon d’Or, except… let’s just double-check for the sake of surety. One last look through the evidence.
August — start as you mean to go on — City’s first trophy of the season, the UEFA Super Cup. December, trophy number two, the Club World Cup, where he scored in the final. Hat-tricks and braces throughout the season… yada, yada, yada… and his fourth Premier League title in a row, his sixth overall. At age 23 (he’s now 24).
But here’s what people are forgetting: Foden scored 19 goals in the 2023-24 Premier League. Only three players scored more and he was voted the top flight’s player of the season by the league itself and the journalists who cover it. He got another five goals in the Champions League.
Yes, this is slightly fraying even as I write it, because one particular City team-mate got all those club trophies too and also now has a Euro 2024 winner’s medal rather than a runners-up one, but who knows Rodri and Foden better than their manager Pep Guardiola? And what did Guardiola say about Foden in March: “He is the player of the season. No one has been so decisive for us as him this season.”
I rest my case.
Andrew Hankinson
(Top photos: Getty Images)
