PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé and England forward Chloe Kelly are among the leading contenders to win the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or awards on Monday.
They are front runners among the 30 men’s and 30 women’s nominees revealed last month by France Football magazine, with the winners announced at a ceremony in central Paris.
Dembélé was inspirational in leading PSG to its first Champions League title and is among a remarkable nine PSG players vying for the men’s award. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has since joined Manchester City but was nominated as a PSG player.
Teenage Barcelona star Lamine Yamal and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah are also candidates.
When England won the Women’s European Championship in July, Kelly blasted home the decisive penalty in the final against world champion Spain. She also won the Women’s Champions League with surprise winner Arsenal.
She faces competition from defender Lucy Bronze and goalkeeper Hannah Hampton — her England teammates who both play for Chelsea — and from Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the winner of the past two awards.
Barcelona players have won the past four women’s awards.
PSG players absent
Because Ligue 1 postponed Sunday night’s match between host Marseille and PSG by 24 hours due to a severe weather forecast, the match at Stade Velodrome is scheduled to start on Monday at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).
That clashes with the Ballon d’Or ceremony and prevents most PSG players from attending.
However, Dembélé, Désiré Doué and João Neves are injured and not in the matchday squad, leaving them free to attend the ceremony.
PSG’s Luis Enrique was nominated for best coach.
The ceremony is at Théâtre du Châtelet and begins at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT). Viewers in the United States can watch the show on Paramount+.
The voting system
The Ballon d’Or was created by France Football and has been awarded since 1956 for men, and since 2018 for women. It is voted for by journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for the men’s award and the top 50 FIFA-ranked countries for the women’s award.
Each journalist, one per country, selects players in ranked order with points attributed to each position. ___
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