History has been made this evening at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, and the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fans might want to look away!
The nominations are in for the annual award, and the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, and plenty of others have made the list — but there are two glaring omissions.
For the first time since 2003, neither Messi nor Ronaldo were nominated for the award, perhaps truly signaling the end of their dominant reign at the top of the sport.
Messi holds the record as an eight-time recipient of the award, while five-time winner Ronaldo has earned the most nominations with eighteen.
While those records will likely never be beaten, that era of individual dominance is sadly soon to start fading into the rearview mirror.