There was a time not long ago that Jude Bellingham was most people's favourite to win the 2024 Ballon d'Or. In a break from the duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have won the Ballon D'Or on 13 occasions since 2007 – with only Luka Modric (2018) and Karim Benzema (2022) and interrupting their dominance – the award is set for a new home. Bellingham is joined by Real Madrid teammates Vinicius Junior, Dani Carvajal and Kylian Mbappe on the shortlist for the award, which is decided by football magazine France Football.

Vinicius is now the bookmakers' favourite as things stand. The criteria to decide the award winner is split into eight categories, although in the main the France Football voting panel considers: individual performances, team performances and achievements, as well as class shown on the pitch and fair play. Full list of Ballon d'Or 2024 nominees | All-time Ballon d'Or winners | How the winner is decided Jude Bellingham titles, awards won in 2023/24 Bellingham contributed enormously to Real Madrid's successful campaign in La Liga in 2023/24, as well as their Uefa Champions League triumph.

That team double, in which Bellingham played a pivotal role, made it a superb year for Los Blancos, with the 21-year-old notching the assist for teammate Vinicius to make it 2-0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final. Bellingham started the 2023/24 campaign in blistering form, scoring 13 goals in his first 12 appearances for Madrid – a remarkab.