Eight different Manchester players have been named on the 2023 Ballon d’Or shortlist, with Manchester City claiming the most nominations this year.
The 30-strong list of potential Ballon d’Or winners was released on Wednesday, 6 September and following their incredible treble-winning season, it’s no surprise that there were a fair few Man City stars named among the candidates.
Boasting seven out of the 30 names — four more than next best club, Real Madrid, who earned three thanks to new signing Jude Bellingham — City saw main marksman Erling Haaland recognised for the goalscoring robot that he is, as well as three midfidlers, two defenders and another forward.
Haaland, strike partner Julian Alvarez and Kevin de Bruyne; Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and new boy Josko Gvardiol were all nominated, as well as three women’s players: Yui Hasegawa, Jill Roord and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw.
7️⃣ City stars have been nominated for this year's Men's @ballondor! 🙌
Ederson is also nominated for the Yachine Trophy 🧤
Pep Guardiola’s side cleaned up when it came to nominations.
As for down the road at Old Trafford, the majority of Manchester United squad have been snubbed at this year’s Ballon d’Or awards, with only new goalkeeper André Onana included on the shortlist for his efforts with Inter Milan last season, where he won the 2022/23 Coppa Italia.
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Things were a little better when it came to the Man United women’s team though, as both England keeper Mary Earps and newly signed, not to mention World Cup golden boot-winner, Hinata Miyazawa, were named on the shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or Feminin.
In fact, a number of Lionesses were littered throughout this years nominations, with Earps being joined by the likes of Rachel Daly, Georgia Stanway and captain Millie Bright following their respective domestic seasons and incredible Women’s World Cup campaign.
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You can see the 2023 Ballon d’Or shortlist in full down below.
Other notable exclusions included Cristiano Ronaldo, who was left out for the first time in two decades, Liverpool no.1 Allisson, City keeper Ederson, Declan Rice and several other big Premier League names.
This year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony will be taking place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on October 30.
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Last year’s Yashin Trophy (the men’s award) went to European veteran Karim Benzema while the women’s Ballon d’Or went to Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas for the second year running.
We have a feeling that big bloke with the long blonde hair already has his name on one of those trophies…
Featured Image — Erling Haaland/Lionel Messi/André Onana/Man City (via Instagram)
Sport
New Amazon Prime Video docuseries to show Pep Guardiola’s final seasons at Manchester City
Emily Sergeant
A new all-access docuseries featuring Pep Guardiola’s final few seasons at Manchester City is set to air this summer.
Coming exclusively to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland, the four-part documentary is set to take Manchester City fans and neutral viewers alike inside the club as the players and manager – who delivered an era of dominance -make way for a new generation.
Filmed over the past two seasons, this is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football, and will offer unfiltered access to Guardiola, his squad, and the City boardroom.
After 10 trophy-filled years – which included six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, three FA Cups, and five EFL Cups – Pep Guardiola called time on his tenure in Manchester last month, alongside fan favourite players Bernardo Silva and John Stones, as well as Kevin De Bruyne the season prior.
This new docuseries was there to follow them every step of the process.
Fans can follow City from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign right through to a domestic double the following season, charting the raw emotion of a squad in transition.
The series is directed by Academy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, alongside City Studios’ John De Caux, and is produced by Kevin Macdonald for Plan B/KM Films and Gavin Johnson and Ged Doherty for City Studios.
“This is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement.
Joining Prime Video’s wide selection of sports programming, the series will be available to watch at no additional cost to Prime members this summer.
It’ll be ready to stream on 19 August.
Featured Image – Prime Video
Sport
Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the Neil Diamond anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
Danny Jones -
7th September 2023 
