Sports

BREAKING: Ballon d’Or 2022: 20-man Nominees Confirmed [Full List]

Published

3 years ago

August 12, 2022

A 20-man shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or award has been announced today, Friday, 12 August 2022.

This was confirmed by France Football, who are organizers of the award, via their website today.

Recall that Lionel Messi, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain, won the Ballon d’Or last year after beating the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Jorginho and Karim Benzema.

Below are the nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or:

Thibaut Courtois (BEL, Real Madrid), Rafael Leao (POR, AC Milan), Mohamed Salah (EGY, Liverpool), Joshua Kimmich (GER, Bayern Munich), Christopher Nkunku (FRA, RB Leipzig), Trent Alexander-Arnold (ANG, Liverpool), Robert Lewandowski (POL, Bayern Munich then FC Barcelona), Bernardo Silva (POR, Manchester City),Vinicius Junior (BRE, Real Madrid), Luis Diaz (COL, FC Porto then Liverpool), Karim Benzema (FRA, Real Madrid), Fabinho (BRE, Liverpool), Riyad Mahrez (ALG, Manchester City), Heung-min Son (CDS, Tottenham), Casemiro (BRE, Real Madrid), Phil Foden (ENG, Manchester City), Harry Kane (ENG, Tottenham), Sadio Mané (SEN, Liverpool then Bayern Munich), Darwin Nunez (URU, Benfica then Liverpool), Mike Maignan (FRA, AC Milan), Kevin De Bruyne (BEL, Manchester City), Sébastien Haller (CIV, Ajax then Borussia Dortmund), Luka Modric (CRO, Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (POR, Manchester United), Antonio Rüdiger (GER, Chelsea then Real Madrid), Joao Cancelo (POR, Manchester City), Erling Haaland (NOR, Borussia Dortmund then Manchester City), Kylian Mbappé (FRA, PSG), Virgil Van Dijk (HOL, Liverpool) and Dusan Vlahovic (SER, Fiorentina then Juventus).

Sports

AFCON 2025: Super Eagles Players Refuse To Travel For Algeria Game Over Bonuses

Published

4 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Editor

Super Eagles players and coaches have refused to travel to Marrakech due to unpaid bonuses.

This was revealed by BBC Africa journalist, Oluwashina Okeleji, who is in Morocco.

Nigeria are billed to take on Algeria in the quarter-final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday evening.

But it is understood they have not paid their bonuses for the four matches they have played.

Eric Chelle’s men beat Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in the group fixtures, before they thrashed Mozambique 4-0 in the Round of 16.

They have taken the decision not to travel or train anymore until the bonuses issue is resolved.

Sports

AFCON: Osimhen Threatens To Dump Super Eagles, Return To Galatasaray

Published

1 day ago

January 6, 2026

Editor

Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen, reportedly threatened to quit the national team and return to Turkey.

According to Arise News, Osimhen was left fuming following his altercation with Ademola Lookman during the 4-0 win over Mozambique at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations on Monday.

Having scored a brace thanks to assists from Lookman, the 27-year-old lashed out at his team-mate for failing to pass to him in the 64th minute.

Osimhen then beckoned on the bench asking to be taken off, before he was replaced by Moses Simon.

At full time, Osimhen stormed out of the stadium and dropped his accreditation card, insisting he was “done” with the national team and wanted to fly back to Turkey.

He was then pacified by senior officials of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.