Ballon d’Or power rankings: Sadio Mane v Mohamed Salah for second the main focus given Karim Benzema will win

Spoiler alert: Karim Benzema will win the Ballon d’Or. It isn’t official, but it’s looking pretty obvious, so ahead of tomorrow’s shortlist unveiling our focus is on who will join him on the podium – and in what order.

Since starting our power rankings, Benzema’s place at the top of the billing has not shifted, so scroll down you may to No. 1, but there you will find no surprises.

Ad The Real Madrid forward is deemed a shoo-in to win his first Ballon d’Or, and over the past few months he has been backed to claim the golden ball by – breathe in — Eden Hazard, Zinedine Zidane, Louis Saha, Vinicius Jr, Rio Ferdinand, Florentino Perez, Dani Alves and some bloke called Lionel Messi. UEFA Super CupSuper Cup victory shows that Real Madrid are inevitable — The Warm-Up2 HOURS AGO But with the top-30 shortlist being slowly released tomorrow – you can follow the updates live right here on Eurosport – our concern here is how the top five might look, and which names may just miss out.

And a reminder, Messi’s recent exploits are too late for the voters to take into account, and while his overhead kick and did-he-mean-it assist helped the Argentine get this season off to an ideal start, he should not be in the reckoning for the 2022 Ballon d’Or – which takes into account the 2021-22 campaign. At least, that's what France Football's rules dictate.

So, without further ado, and without Messi – although it really wouldn’t surprise us if he still makes the podium – we count down from five to one, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s battle for second occupying most of our time. When is the Ballon d'Or ceremony date and when is winner announced? When is the 2022 Ballon d'Or shortlist announced? Could Mead beat Putellas to Ballon d’Or? 5.