Soccer-Kane, Haaland, Messi on Ballon d'Or shortlist, Vozinha gets Yashin nomination


Soccer Football - DFB Cup - First Round - VfL Osnabruck v Bayern Munich - Bremer Bruecke Stadium, Osnabruck, Germany - September 2, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

Sept 8 (Reuters) - Harry Kane, Erling ⁠Haaland and Lionel Messi have all made the 30-man shortlist ⁠for the 2026 Men's Ballon d'Or, while Cape Verde's World Cup ‌hero Vozinha has been nominated for the Yashin award, organisers France Football announced on Tuesday.

Kane had a stunning season with Bayern Munich and England, scoring 73 goals for club and ​country in 65 matches and helped secure a ⁠treble of Bundesliga, German Cup, ⁠and German Super Cup as well as leading his nation to the World ⁠Cup ‌semi-finals.

Haaland netted 58 goals in 64 games for Manchester City and Norway, while eight-times Ballon d'Or winner Messi had 75 goal ⁠contributions in 49 matches for Inter Miami and Argentina, ​who he helped to ‌reached the World Cup final.

Also among those on the shortlist are ⁠Jude Bellingham, ​Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal but not five-times winner Cristiano Ronaldo despite the Portugal forward lifting the Saudi Pro League title with Al-Nassr.

The women's shortlist ⁠includes Poland's Barcelona quadruple-winner Ewa Pajor, Alexia Putellas, ​who featured for Barca and Spain but has now joined London City Lionesses, and Manchester City's prolific Jamaica striker Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw.

Cape Verde's Vozinha was nominated for ⁠the Yashin Trophy awarded to the best goalkeeper, with his standout World Cup performances putting him on the 10-man shortlist after he helped his country advance from the tournament's group stage.

He will compete against Spain's World Cup-winner ​Unai Simon and Argentina's Emi Martinez plus fellow ⁠African nominees Yassine Bounou and Edouard Mendy.

The 70th edition of the Ballon d'Or ​will be staged in London for the first ‌time at a ceremony on October ​26 as a tribute to Stanley Matthews, who won the first Ballon d'Or.

(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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