Is the Ballon d’Or ceremony on TV? Live stream info, how voting works and why Lionel Messi has been snubbed

The prestigious Ballon d’Or ceremony will take place later this evening (Monday 17 October 2022) with one famous face off the list for the first time in just under two decades. Lionel Messi has endured a difficult opening stint at Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain and his struggles have found him off the shortlist to receive the football award.

This will be the first time since 2005 that Lionel Messi has not even been on the shortlist, let alone not win the tournament. Last year’s ceremony saw him pick up his seventh award and edge his long-term rival Cristiano Ronaldo to have received the greatest number of Ballon d’Ors.

However, this year is likely to see a different winner after reports from the Spanish outlet Marca revealed the winner had been ‘leaked’ and was set to be Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema. His teammate Thibaut Courtois was up for the Yashin Goalkeeper Trophy and Barcelona starlet Gavi is set to win the young player’s Kopa Trophy.

However, as fans wait to hear the official announcement of the Ballon d’Or winner, here is all you need to know about how to watch the ceremony and how the voting works.

How to watch the Ballon d’Or?

The ceremony for the prestigious football award will take place later today, Monday 17 October 2022, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. The event will not be available to watch on TV but can be streamed through the L’Equipe’s YouTube channel. The Ballon d’Or ceremony will be free to watch through YouTube.

How does the voting for Ballon d’Or work?

The initial shortlist which consists of 30 names is assembled by the editorial team at France Football, a French weekly football publication. France Football is one of the most respected publications within the game.

Following the initial compilation, a jury of journalists, who represent a wide variety of football nations, is put together and they have the task of voting for the players they think should win first, second and third place. The rules and regulations the jury need to follow in order to choose their top players include:

• Individual and collective performances (winners) during the year
• Player class (talent and fair play)
• Overall judgment of the player’s career

The top-ranking player from each journalist’s selection will then receive six points, the second earns four points, then three, two and one going down from the rest of their top five picks. The total points are cacluated and added with the player to have received the most number of points to be awarded the top honour.

Who is set to win this year’s Ballon d’Or?

It will reportedly be Karim Benzema set to receive this year’s award. Here are those with the lowest odds set to win the trophy according to EuroSport:

• Karim Benzema: 1/33
• Erling Haaland: 12/1
• Kylian Mbappe: 16/1
• Mohamed Salah: 25/1
• Virgil Van Dijk: 25/1
• Sadio Mane: 33/1
• Robert Lewandowski: 33/1
• Kevin de Bruyne: 33/1
• Vinicius Junior: 33/1
• Harry Kane: 33/1
• Cristiano Ronaldo: 40/1
• Trent Alexander-Arnold: 40/1

Thibaut Courtois is in line to pick up the goalkeeping Yashin Trophy and he is in the company of Yassine Bounou, Alisson Becker, Ederson, Mike Maignan, Edouard Mendy, Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak, Kevin Trapp and Hugo Lloris. The young 18-year-old Gavi is up for the Kopa Trophy and has reportedly faced off competition from Karim Adeyemi, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Ryan Gravenberch, Josko Gvardiol, Nuno Mendes, Jamal Musiala, Bukayo Saka and Florian Wirtz.

Why isn’t Lionel Messi on the shortlist?

Messi left Barcelona last summer to join the Ligue 1 giants and won the title in his first season but has scored just six league goals in 26 games during a campaign which was also plagued with injury problems. France Football’s deputy editor-in-chief Emmanuel Bojan said: “The Argentinian was part of the discussions to integrate the 30, but the new criteria for the Ballon d’Or were unfavourable to him...And then it must be admitted that his first season in Paris was very disappointing both in terms of the visual impression and the statistics.”

Who could win this year’s Ballon d’Or Feminin?

20 women footballers are up for this year’s Ballon d’Or feminin which includes three Lionesses involved in the Euros 2022 win. These players are:

• Selma Bacha
• Aitana Bonmati
• Millie Bright
• Lucy Bronze
• Kadidiatou Diani
• Christiane Endler
• Ada Hegerberg
• Marie-Antoinette Katoto
• Sam Kerr
• Catarina Macario
• Beth Mead
• Vivianne Miedema
• Alex Morgan
• Lena Oberdorf
• Asisat Oshoala
• Alexandra Popp
• Alexia Putellas
• Wendie Renard
• Trinity Rodman
• Fridolina Rolfo