On December 2nd, 2019, the winners of the 64th Ballon d’Or award and various other awards were announced in a ceremony hosted by Didier Drogba and Sandy Heribert. For those who don’t know, these awards are considered as some of the most prestigious accolades in the worldwide soccer community. This occasion, as always, was a cause for heavy attention and debate. Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for a record 6th time, beating out various contenders in a hotly contested race. He earned his award with another stellar season, pacing La Liga in various offensive categories and scoring or assisting on 54.5% of Barcelona’s goals en route to leading them to their 26th La Liga title. 

The runner-ups to the awards were quite stellar as well. Three Liverpool players found themselves in the top 5 for leading their team to a surprising run in which they won the 2019 Champion’s League, 2019 UEFA Super Cup, and finished as runners-up to Manchester City in the English Premier League standings by a mere one point. Center Back Virgil Van Dijk finished at 2nd place in voting due to his solid defensive play for Liverpool, being named man of the match in the Champions League final where Liverpool one. He also captained the Netherlands to a 2nd place finish in the UEFA Nations League. Sadio Mane finished 4th due to his strong play in the English Premier League for Liverpool and for his heroics in Liverpool’s UEFA Super Cup finals victory wherein he scored two goals and was named man of the match. Mohamed Salah finished 5th in voting for scoring 50 goals in 69 games for Liverpool and scoring on a penalty in their Champion’s League Final win. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo finished 3rd in voting for leading Portugal to a UEFA Nations League victory and pacing Juventus in goals.

Megan Rapinoe won the women’s Ballon d’Or for leading the United States to a decisive victory in the 2019 women’s world cup. Matthijs de Ligt won the Kopa Trophy for the best player in the world under 21 while Alisson Becker won the Yashin trophy for best goalkeeper.