Cole Palmer, Estevao, Enzo Maresca and Chelsea itself are all in the running for various honours after the nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or awards were announced.
The long-running Ballon d’Or is among the most prestigious individual honours in football and now encompasses a number of different awards, alongside the famous titular award for the world’s best player.
It is for that top honour the Chelsea’s men’s team has its first nominee. Palmer makes the shortlist for the best in the world shortly after becoming a world champion, having been selected alongside 29 other players by journalists from France Football and L’Equipe. He was also nominated last year, coming 25th in the final voting.
It comes after another stellar campaign for Cole in 2024/25, during which he registered 32 goal contributions (18 goals and 14 assists) across 52 appearances in all competitions.
That included some big performances on the big occasions, with an excellent showing in the UEFA Conference League final before netting two brilliant goals and setting up our third in the 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup final.
Another player who impressed at the Club World Cup, albeit for Palmeiras before completing his move to Chelsea at the start of this week, was Estevao. The Brazilian also has a nomination to his name, after being included on the 10-man shortlist for the Kopa Trophy, given to the world’s best player aged under 21, as chosen by previous Ballon d’Or winners.
The nominations keep coming, with our head coach Enzo Maresca in contention to receive the Johan Cruyff Trophy for the world’s best coach, after guiding us to those two trophies as well as qualification for the UEFA Champions League, in his first season at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea itself also has a nomination, with our successful 2024/25 campaign and new status us world champions seeing us included on the shortlist for the Men’s Club of the Season award.
Journalists from around the world will now cast their votes on the various shortlists. The winners of all those will then be revealed at the 2025 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Paris on 22 September.
Chelsea Women also received several nominations for the Ballon d’Or awards, which you can find here.