The nominees for the 2023 Ballon d'Or award have officially been unveiled.

France Football made the announcement Wednesday with Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland leading a 30-man list for the prestigious annual award.

Messi is notably nominated a year after he failed to make the shortlist and is a big favorite to win the award. The former Barcelona star led Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup in what was the only trophy to have eluded him throughout his career.

While his domestic season was a mixed bag with a round of 16 exit in the Champions League, he did score 16 and assist 16 in 32 leagues games to help the French side retain their Ligue 1 crown. Overall, the Argentine notched up 37 goals and 25 assists for both club and country during the course of the 2022/23 season.

He would later become a free agent and go on to sign with Inter Miami earlier this summer where he has made a monumental impact to say the least.

His major competition for the award is undoubtedly Haaland, who helped Manchester City win a historic treble in his debut season for the club.

The Norwegian dominated the goalscoring charts with 52 goals in 53 games in all competitions. He also notably broke the record for most single-season goals in the Premier League with 36. In any other season, Haaland would be a lock — however, the narrative of Messi finally winning a World Cup may prove to be too strong.

Other names on the shortlist include Kylian Mbappe, 2022 winner Karim Benzema, Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a notable absentee as he is not on the shortlist for the first time in 20 years. However, there are a number of players from Argentina as well as Manchester City.

The the full list of nominees can be found below:

  • André Onana – Manchester United/Cameroon
  • Josko Gvardiol – Manchester City/Croatia
  • Karim Benzema – Al Ittihad
  • Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich/Germany
  • Mohamed Salah – Liverpool/Egypt
  • Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid/England
  • Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England
  • Randal Kolo Muani – Paris Saint-Germain/France
  • Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City/Belgium
  • Bernardo Silva – Manchester City/Portugal
  • Emiliano Martínez – Aston Villa/Argentina
  • Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – Napoli/Georgia
  • Rúben Dias – Manchester City/Portugal
  • Nicolo Barella – Inter Milan/Italy
  • Erling Haaland – Manchester City/Norway
  • Yassine Bounou – Al Hilal/Morocco
  • Martin Ødegaard – Arsenal/Norway
  • Julián Álvarez – Manchester City/Argentina
  • Ilkay Gündogan – Barcelona/Germany
  • Vinícius Júnior – Real Madrid/Brazil
  • Lionel Messi – Inter Miami/Argentina
  • Rodri – Manchester City/Spain
  • Lautaro Martínez – Inter Milan/Argentina
  • Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid/France
  • Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona/Poland
  • Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain/France
  • Kim Min-Jae – Napoli/South Korea
  • Victor Osimhen – Napoli/Nigeria
  • Luka Modric – Real Madrid/Croatia
  • Harry Kane – Bayern Munich/England

The Ballon d'Or winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Oct. 30.

The nominees for the Yashin Trophy — presented to the best performing goalkeeper — were also revealed. They include names like Yassine Bounou who impressed at the World Cup, Argentina's Emiliano Martinez, new Manchester United signing Andre Onana and Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale to name a few.

Liverpool's Alisson Becker is a notable absentee.

Here is the full list:

  • Yassine Bounou
  • Thibaut Courtois
  • Ederson,
  • Dominik Livakovic
  • Mike Maignan
  • Emiliano Martinez
  • Andre Onana
  • Aaron Ramsdale
  • Brice Samba
  • Marc-Andre Ter Stegen