Ballon d'Or - Winner Betting Odds 2024

What is the Ballon d'Or?

Ballon d'Or is an annual football event that celebrates the best player of the year with the Ballon d'Or award, which has been around since the 1950s. Although the likes of FIFA and UEFA also have similar awards, the Ballon d'Or remains the most prestigious and honourable one that a player can receive.

The award is presented by the newspaper France Football and starting from the 2024 edition, the event will also be co-organised by UEFA. Back in the day, the voting process solely involved football journalists but this is no longer the case, as players and managers from the top 100 countries in FIFA's world ranking are eligible to vote.

As for past winners, Lionel Messi is sitting comfortably at the top with eight Ballon d'Or, with the latest one coming in 2023. This after an impressive season with Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina's national team, winning the league with the former and the World Cup with the latter. At the age of 36, one can only applaud the No.10.

From its commendable history to the rigorous voting process - not to mention the aesthetically pleasing award itself - it is clear why the Ballon d'Or is regarded as the best individual award a player can win.

A Look at the 2024 Ballon d’Or Favourites

Even though the event will take place in October, there are already a few odds favourites to win the Ballon d'Or 2024. As the voters are told to base their pick on the previous season, the Ballon d'Or battle is indeed in full swing and as you can see above, there are a few that stand out from the rest: Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Braut Haaland.

So, what should you expect from this battle? Let's go through them one by one, starting with the current odds favourite Bellingham.

Jude Bellingham

Although the English youngster is not exactly new on the scene, it is quite extraordinary that he is the odds favourite to take home the Ballon d'Or as things stand. Not if you look at his performances, of course, but because he is still just 20 years old. It goes without saying that his €100m+ move to Real Madrid came with great expectations, but no one was expecting such a successful outcome so quickly.

Despite playing as an attacking midfielder, Bellingham is comfortably the top goalscorer for Real Madrid (at the time of writing), which says a lot about how important he has been. He will certainly be decisive for Carlo Ancelotti's men in the title battle with Girona, of all teams, and succeeding on that front could be decisive for the Ballon d'Or.

Kylian Mbappe

The Frenchman has come close to winning the award in the past, first breaking into the top 10 back in 2017. His best position was registered last time out (2023), after leading the line for France on their path to the World Cup final. France ended up losing that clash, against Messi's Argentina, but Mbappe was able to showcase his importance to every single football fan in the world.

Though rumours regarding his future are running hot, with a Paris Saint-Germain exit seemingly on the cards, the 25-year-old has appeared unaffected on the pitch with great performances week in and week out. He is thus bound to be one of the main candidates for the Ballon d'Or until the very end, but it remains to be seen if this will finally be his year.

Erling Braut Haaland

The Norwegian powerhouse has established himself as one of the best - if not the best - centre-forwards in the world. Slightly aided by the attacking nature and quality of Manchester City, the 23-year-old has been a goalscoring machine in the last few years. He also just missed out on the Ballon d'Or in 2023, coming in at around 100 votes less than Messi.

Beating, or at least matching, the monstrous numbers of the 2022-23 season (52 goals in 53 games) will perhaps be tough for Haaland. However, with Messi most likely out of the running, the striker still has decent chances of taking home the Ballon d'Or in October this year. One thing is for certain: the race will probably come down to the wire.