This year’s Ballon d’Or eliminated Argentine star Lionel Messi from the final list of 30 candidates after 15 years of being on the list and achieving the record of winning 7 Ballon d’Or in his career, most recently last season.

And France Football’s journalist Emmanuel Pouyanne, who is in charge of the awards, explained in a fan Q&A segment why the paper had excluded Messi from its final list.

“Messi participated in the final discussion of the nominees, but the new award rules, which cancel the player’s “career” effect and depend only on the previous season, are not in the player’s interests,” Bojan said.

He added: “It must be admitted that Messi’s first season at Paris Saint-Germain was disappointing in terms of numbers and theory.”

France’s Karim Benzema is seen as the brightest contender for the award after an “exceptional” season with Real Madrid in which he won both the League and the Champions League.

Behavior / Donia Haddad