Ballon d’Or: ‘Two new awards at tonight’s ceremony’

Two new awards are expected to be given out at the Ballon d’Or ceremony tonight in Paris, according to reports in France.

The stage is set for the prestigious football awards with Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina star Lionel Messi the bookies’ favourite to win the top prize for a seventh time.

And now it’s been reported that there will be two additional awards to the usual list of gongs with best club of the year and best goalscorer of 2021 to be handed out, according to L’Equipe. 

Premier League giants Chelsea won the Champions League this year and could feature tonight

Organisers of the Ballon d’Or award, France Football, teased the news on social media that they will introduce two new awards at Monday evening’s ceremony in Paris.

It is unclear who is in the running for the brand new prizes or how the winners will be decided.

For the main award Messi leads the way ahead of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, who was harshly denied the award last year after it was cancelled due to Covid, while 14 players from the Premier League have been nominated. 

Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi is the favourite to win the top prize for a seventh time

Messi scored 38 goals in 47 games last season, helping guide Barcelona to the Copa del Rey before winning the Copa America with his country this summer. He has scored four goals and supplied three assists in 11 matches for PSG this season. 

The world’s best player for 2021 is due to be announced at around 9pm GMT tonight at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris as the highly-coveted award makes its return following the cancellation of the 2020 edition. 

The likes of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, Chelsea midfielder Jorginho and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema are also in with a shout.