After literally monopolising the Ballon d'Or since when AC Milan player Kaka won it, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been reportedly ruled out of the podium for the next awards which they have dominated by winning the prestigious prize five times apiece.
The next announcement of the next edition will take place on December 3 in Paris, but this year, it is rumoured that the duopoly will end. According to rumours coming from Radio France Internationale journalist Eric Mamruth, with half of the votes already counted, none of the two champions would be on the podium.
Instead, Luka Modric, Raphael Varane and Kylian Mbappe are reportedly in the top 3. The fact that Ronaldo and Messi are out of the podium, however, shows that both were penalized by their countries' performances at the World Cup in Russia, where Varane and Mbappe played a key role for France, while Luka Modric led his Croatia team to a remarkable final in Moscow.
But if it is really the World Cup that moves the balance, then perhaps the absence of Antoine Griezmann in the top 3 makes even more noise.

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