Ballon d’Or 2023: Where to watch on TV & Stream

The Ballon d’Or is without a doubt the most prestigious individual accolade a footballer can receive. Those few names worthy of the award go down in football history as the most talented individuals to ever grace the beautiful game.

The Ballon d’Or has occurred annually ever since its inception in 1956, and is presented by French magazine ‘France Football’. In last year’s ceremony, prolific French striker Karim Benzema was honoured with the award, after having led Real Madrid to not just a Champions League triumph, but also played a pivotal role in helping his side win La Liga, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Spanish Super Cup.

So, who will it be this year? World Cup winner Lionel Messi? Treble winner Erling Haaland? Or is there a surprise on the cards? Read on to find out everything you need to know ahead of the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony.

When is the Ballon d’Or 2023?

The Ballon d’Or 2023 ceremony will take place on Monday, October 30th at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and is expected to begin at 8pm BST. Moreover, the ceremony will be hosted by none other than the legendary former Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker, Didier Drogba.

Where to watch the Ballon d’Or live on TV

UK viewers will have two options for tuning into the prestigious awards ceremony:

FREE stream via L’Equipe YouTube Channel
LIVE via BBC Red Button & BBC Sport Online

Who are the Ballon d’Or 2023 nominees?

Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig and Manchester City)
Andre Onana (Inter Milan and Manchester United)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and Al-Ittihad)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt and Paris Saint-Germain)
Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli)
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan)
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City and Barcelona)
Yassine Bounou (Sevilla and Al-Hilal)
Julian Alvarez (Manchester City)
Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
Rodrigo (Manchester City)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami)
Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Kim Min-jae (Napoli and Bayern Munich)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Victor Osimhen (Napoli)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich)

How does the Ballon d’Or work?

As previously mentioned, the award is handed to the player with the most outstanding performance over the course of the previous season, and the winner is ultimately decided by exactly 100 journalists from FIFA’s highest-ranked member nations.

Furthermore, every journalist partaking will need to provide their top five picks from a shortlist of 30 players. The number of votes given to these top five picks is dependent on where each player is placed within that top five list. Needless to say, the higher the ranking, the more votes are given, and the player with the most total votes will win the Ballon d’Or.

Ballon d’Or 2023 favourites

The full list of names for this year’s awards consists of an array of world class, elite footballing talent from whom we have had the pleasure to be entertained by on a weekly basis in recent years. However, the favourites come down to two players, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.

Lionel Messi is being tipped as the clear favourites for the Ballon d’Or this year, which would see him collect his eighth in total. This would also be a world record which would be unlikely to be broken by anyone for the foreseeable. It’s hard to argue against the prize going to the undisputed goat after the year he has had. He carried his nation to the holy grail in Qatar, crowning Argentina as World Cup champions after scoring seven goals and winning best player of the tournament. Not to mention that two of those seven goals came when it mattered most, in the final against former holders, France.

Many would feel that Erling Haaland has done more than enough to win the award this year, though. The Norwegian has quite literally exploded onto the scene in recent years, and was crucial in Manchester City’s treble-winning season after scoring a total of 52 goals across all competitions. The Norwegian was breaking records week in, week out, and even won the golden boot with a record-breaking goal tally in the Premier League. He was simply unplayable throughout the entirety of the 2022/2023 season.

Ultimately, we feel that the drama and narrative surrounding Lionel Messi’s long and painful journey leading up to that World Cup win, on top of everything he has achieved in the game and being seen by most football fans as the best player to ever grace it, will give him the votes needed to win in the end. Whether that is a fair way of going about it is certainly up for debate!

Are any other awards given out?

Alongside the men’s awards, the same award is carried out for the women’s game. Women’s football is witnessing a rapid rise in popularity, and with that, stars are being born. Most notably, Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati, and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr, with the former being tipped as the favourite to win.

Additionally, there will also be presentations for the following: