Ballon d’Or 2023: Messi Leads Haaland in Fan Vote, Bonmati Tops Women’s List

• Lionel Messi is the overwhelming favourite to claim the 2023 Ballon d'Or award
• The Inter Miami forward led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup trophy in Qatar
• Erling Haaland is his main rival for the award after Man City's European treble

With less than two weeks to go to the 2023 Ballon d'Or ceremony, Lionel Messi has taken an overwhelming lead in the fan vote organised by France Football.

France Football, a magazine owned by L'Equipe, is often responsible for dishing out the most lucrative individual award in football's history.

Messi will be gunning for a record-extending eighth title at the end of October.

The Argentine will also be seeking to become the first player stationed in Major League Soccer to win the award after moving to Inter Miami in January.

His exploits with his national team, Argentina at the Qatar World Cup last year have put him in good standing ahead of the October 30 vote.

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Messi's main competition is Erling Haaland, whose 52 goals in 53 appearances in his debut season in England helped Manchester City to the treble, including a maiden Champions League title.

The Norwegian striker is seeking to claim his first gong at only 23 years old.

Ballon d'Or 2023 fan vote

As noted on L'Equipe's website, Messi has garnered close to half of the votes by fans - 48.9% of the total votes cast. The site does not indicate what percentages other competitors have.

In the women's vote, Spain's Aitana Bonmati is the leader, with 33.3% at the time of publication. She led Barcelona to the Champions League before winning the World Cup with Spain.

Jude Bellingham's early season form with Real Madrid has put him in good standing to walk away with the Kopa Trophy. The England international has 42.7% of the votes so far.

Aston Villa's Emi Martinez leads the Yashin Trophy race (awarded to the top goalkeeper over the period under review) with 23% in what is expected to be a tight race.

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How Ballon d'Or process works

While the vote will not necessarily be used to determine the final winner, it gives a prelude of how it is likely to go when the who's who in football congregate at the Theatre du Chatelet.

One common question is how the winner is arrived at. Who chooses the nominees and recipients? There were some controversial Ballon d'Or calls in history where fans were left divided.

Ahead of the expected 2023 battle between Messi and Haaland, Sports Brief looked at how the Ballon d'Or voting works, from the nomination to the eventual naming of the final winner.