Ballon d’Or 2023 ceremony LIVE: Lionel Messi wins his EIGHTH award ahead of 52-goal man Erling Haaland with Jude Bellingham lifting for Kopa Trophy

The eighth time in Lionel Messi’s career. What a player.

It will surely be his last. The World Cup win will have tipped him past Erling Haaland, I imagine.

He pays thanks to his Argentina team-mates. Congratulates the other nominees, and references his dream of wining the World Cup.

David Beckham is here to announce the winner.

He first pays trubute to Sir Bobby Charlton following his passing last week.

He goes onto talk about ‘changing things around the world’. Interesting.

The winner is… as we thought… LIONEL MESSI

Here’s the top 10 of the Yashin Trophy:

1. Martinez

2. Ederson

4. Courtois

5. Ter Stegen

7. Livakovic

8. Ramsdale

9. Maignan

Onto the men’s award, then.

As role models, we have a responsibility on and off the pitch. We should be more than athletes. Keep leading by example and keep fighting together for a better, peaceful and equal world.

Bonmati has won the Treble with Barcelona and Euros with Spain in the last year.

She thanks her family and club and congratualtes the nominees.

Novak Djokovic is out to I think reveal the women’s winner. For some reason. He reveals he supports Red Star Belgrade and AC Milan. The question that was on everyone’s lips!

Bonmati, Kerr, Paralluelo and Rolfo are the final four.

The winner is… AITANA BONMATI

More men’s placings. Alvarez seventh, Vinicius sixth, Rodri fifth.

De Bruyne, Haaland, Mbappe and Messi remain.

The trophies are here now. Finally.

Popp seventh, Carmona sixth, Earps fifth, are the next three players announced in the women’s Ballon d’Or shortlist.

It’s now the men’s club of the year.

I wonder who wins this! City it is.

The players present make their ways up to the stage, with former captain Ilkay Gundogan looking on.

They’re now showing every single Haaland goal from the last year.

‘It’s my job’, he says.

He does give thanks to Manchester City and Pep Guardiola and gives some advice on how to be a top striker.

‘First of all I want to thank man city for making me be myself everysingle day fromn the players to the staff to pep. I want to say a big thanks to them. I want to thank my family for making me who I am today. Thanking everyone close to me and yeah, thank you so much.’

Lineker is now talking Haaland up with the forward stood awkwardly behind him. Funny.

Drogba has also challenged Haaland to perform either his or Lineker’s signature celebration next goal.

Gary Lineker is here to present the Gerd Muller Trophy.

Drogba points out the Match of the Day music is being played in the background. ‘I know’, Gary replies.

Right they’re showing him in his pants when Leicester won the league. Normal.

Fifth is Lewandowski, fourth Messi, thrid Kane, Mbappe second… and the winner of the best striker is, of course, Haaland.

Next up is the Yashin Trophy.

Bono, Courtois, Ederson, Martinez, Ter Stegen are the nominees…

The winner is… MARTINEZ!

His father is there to present him the award. What a great moment.

There are boos in the crowd as they show his save from Kolo Muani in the World Cup final. Droga pauses proceedings to demand respect.

The ceremony is of course in France.

Millie Bright has finished 11th in the women’s award.

Here’s the full list for the Kopa Award:

1. Bellingham

2. Musiala

4. Camavinga

9. Hojlund

Barcelona have been named the women’s club of the year. Laporta is one of the people on stage to collect the award.

A Treble year for them.

Rachel Daly has come 10th in the women’s Ballon d’Or.

Linda Caicedo ninth, Patricia Guijarro eighth.

Tributes are now paid to footballing greats that have been lost over the last year, including Luis Suarez Miramontes, Sir Bobby Charlton, and Pele. Vinicius says Pele is ‘God’ to Brazilians.

They’re still breaking down the top 10 in the men’s award. Modric is 10th, Silva ninth and Osimhen eighth.

The Socrates Prize is next, which identifies the best social initiative.

Vinicius Jr is the winner. Helping underprivilieged Brazillian children is cited as the reason.

Drogba speaks agaisnt the forward’s fight against racism. A very worthy winner.

Musiala finished second in the event. He and Bellingham are former room-mates from England youth football.

He send a message incuding his congratulations: ‘Well deserved. I think we can remember not long ago that we were room-mates at England and now you’re playing for Real Madrid and I’m playing for Bayern, crazy when you think about it. I hope to see you soon and hope you have a fantastic evening.’

‘It’s nice because we were room-mates for England about two or three years ago and he was one of my best mates in football and I’m really proud of him. So always keeping in touch to see how he’s getting on. He’s a great lad and a great player,’ Bellingham says.

They’re still talking in French but there’s a photo of Hazard and Drogba playing for Chelsea together on the screen as the former comes out to present the trophy,

Bellingham, Camavinga, Gavi, Musiala, Pedri are the finalists…

The winner, as voted by former Ballon d’Or winners… is JUDE BELLINGHAM!

Speaking on his start to life at Real Madrid, Bellingham said: ’Yeah, it’s been really good. I’ve been really welcomed by everyone at the club and everyone behind the scenes.

‘Really it’s down to them. I’m really confident in my ability but they’ve helped me extract that.’

On whether choosing the No5 jersey was to emulate the legendary Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane, he added: ’Yeah there’s a little bit of that. There wasn’t much else left to be honest. It’s a lot of pressure but it’s something that I wanted to invite onto myself and pay homage to one of my footballing idols.

The players on the stage are told they are inspirations.

Eight awards will be handed out tonight.

The 10 male finalists are Alvarez, De Bruyne, Haaland, Mbappe, Messi, Modric, Osimhen, Rodri, Silva and Vinicius Jr.

The Kopa Trophy, handed out to be best U21 player in Europe, is first up.

The ceremony is now beginning! Didier Drogba takes to the stage along with Sandy Heribert.

They’re currently bringing out a load of players. I’ll be honest, It’s in French, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. I think it’s just the nominees taking to the stage.

Corrrr, Haaland and Bellingham come out together. Some shot.

I think all the players and guests are here. The boradcast is just showing replays.

I believe we are supposed to be underway but may just be waiting for the ceremony to start now.

Next up is a home fabvourite and a man who may well have been lifting tonight’s trophhy if his side had won the World Cup.

You’d be wise to bet against Kylian Mbappe winning the Ballon d’Or at some point in his career.

There’s an absolute swarming going on and loud cries from the crowd. Yep, it’s Lionel Messi.

He arrived with his wife and three children and is expected to lift his eighth Ballon d’Or tonight after not being nominated last year.

Novak Djkokovic is the next star to arrive. He’s playing in the Paris Masters this week.

No idea what he’s sahying becasue the covering has muted.

Lens’ Brice Samba is next, of course formally of Nottinham Forest. Elye Wahi too.

Next up is David Beckham! Of course.

Another former Ballon d’Or runner up. A few autographs, a few waves, and he walks in.

Here’s Jude Bellingham! The Real Madrid enterouge have arrived, with the England midfielder making his way around Vinicius Jr to pose for photos.

Some really good quotes from Bellingham…

On Real Madrid beating Barcelona: ‘Was a fun one wasn’t it! Really happy to play in it. Really emotional game for me watching it as a child so to play in one and help win one was really special.’

On Lineker saying he will win the Ballon d’Or in five years: ‘It wasn’t me was it. Very nice of him. Well for me it’s all about the team awards, but yeah it’s definitely one you think of when you were a kid.’

Linda Caicedo follows.

Barcelona’s team have also arrived together, including Mapi Leon, favourite Aitana Bonmati… and Jorge Laporta.

The men are there too, including Marc Andre Ter Stegen and Ilkay Gundogan, who finished 14th in the men’s rankings having captained Manchester City to the Treble.

Didier Deschamps follows closely behind.

Drogba arrives now too, ready to present the award.

And now Gary Lineker is speaking! He backs Jude Bellingham to win the trophy in five years.

‘I wish I’d won it, I felt I should have done. It’s becoming bigger and bigger. It’s huge now.’

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin gets a few boos as he arrives.

I can see Erling Haaland…

The crowd are chanting his name. He’s expected to finish second behind Messi tonight.

Oh, the whole Man City squad have rocked up together! Bernardo SIlva, Ruben Dias, Ederson, Rodri, Gvardiol, Julian Alvarez…

Haaland speaks: ‘It was a really great night [Sunday] and the last couple of [games] have been fantastic nights so I’ve been really enjoying it.

‘I think it’s a great night I’m looking forward to meeting my mates and everything. It’s going to be a great night and there’s going to be a lot of nice footballers in the same room.’

There are so nany people here, including LEquipe and Amaury Media President Aurore Amaury.

Oh here’s Eden Hazard! Cool!

‘In English?! He asks at the start of his interview. ‘Life is perfect. I enjoy family, my kids, it is a perfect life. I still watch football when I can but I don’t miss it.

‘My kids, they asked me to come so I said OK, let’s go together lets spend the night in Paris and have fun.’

Amanda Ilestedet of Arsenal is now posing for the – let’s say passionate – photographers.

‘It feels good to be back. New club and new opportunity. I feel really good at the moment and I’m enjoying football.

Hristo Stoichkov, 1994 Ballon d’Or winner, is the latest person to arrive.

Khvicha Kvaratskheila is the next player to arrive and is hounded by the press.

‘I could not imagine coming here. I am so happy.’

Alba Redondo is the first women’s player to arrive.

I’m a family man. What we did with the national team has been incredible [on Argentina’s World Cup win].

We’re still achieving things. Winning games with the national team and Aston Villa. It’s a proud moment for me and my country but life moves on.

It’s a great achievement to be fair. Being in this kind of Gala ceremony is a proud moment for me and my family and I just want to enjoy tonight.

Two more names announced on the shortlist for the men’s award. Robert Lewandowski comes 12th and Mohamed Salah comes 11th.

Martinez has just said winning the World Cup didn’t change his life. Fair enough.

Now some guy is spinning an ball on his finger and doing kick ups. Your guess is as good as mine.

Finally, the first player has arrived! Emiliano Martinez is greeted by loud cheers with his partner. He finished 15th in the men’s award earlier.

We’re currently hearing from Matthieu Jailbert, French rugby player. The way every Ballon d’Or ceremony should start.

Djibril Cisse is also there with blue hair. Oh, I can see iShowSpeed.

Right well the television coverage of the Ballon d’Or coverage is about to get underway in Paris.

We’re currently seeing images of a red carpet. I assume players will start to arrive soon.

Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez continues his fantastic couple of years by finishing 15th in the Ballon d’Or shortlist.

They’ve then for some reason announced 13th and 14th the wrong way round. Ilkay Gundogan, Manchester City captain for their Treble success, comes 14th, with goalkeeper Bono 13th.

After Khvicha Kvaratskheila is announced in 17th, last year’s winner, Karim Benzema, comes in in 16th.

It was a much quieter year for the forward, with and early Champions League exit, no league title and a move to Saudi Arabia signalling a big decline tio last ter.

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba will be on hand to hand out a trophy or two tonight.

One place above Kane is his England team-mate Jude Bellingham. This man will certainly have higher finishes to come.

He came so close to winning the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund before earning his mega-money move to Real Madrid.

And right now, he’s probably the best midfielder in the world.

It’s not the last time his name will be mentioned tonight.

After Lautaro Martinez is announced in 20th, England captain Harry Kane finishes 19th in this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Quite low for one of the best players around, but a move to Bayern Munich will probably help him for next year’s vote.

A if he can lift the Champions League and a Euros… maybe he’ll win it next time.

Lionel Messi is expected to lift his eighth Ballon d’Or tonight ahead of Erling Haaland.

Jude Bellingham is favourite to win the Kopa Award, with the likes of Rasmus Hojlund and Gavi also nominated.

Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati is expected to win the women’s award, with several other trophies also to be handed out.

Four England players are up for the women’s award tonight but won’t be able to attend due to international fixtures.

The Lionesses play Belgium tomorrow night and are in the country for the game, and it’s the same for a number of the players involved.

Georgia Stanway, one of the four England players shortlisted alongside Millie Bright, Mary Earps and Rachel Daly, says it’s disappointing the players won’t be able to go. Understandbale.

Read more below.

25. Josko Gvardiol

24. Bukayo Saka

23. Andre Onana

22. Kim Min-Jae

21. Antoine Griezmann

Some more Premier League interest there. Well done to Gvardiol, Saka and Onana.

A bit of a shock to see Griezmann that low down too.

So counting down from 30 in the men’s award first up, and there are a few Premier League stars who have already been announced.

30. Ruben Dias

28. Martin Odegaard

28. Randal Kolo Muani

27. Nicolo Barella

26. Jamal Musiala

Here’s a quick remidner of the nominees for this evening’s awards…

Good evening one and all and welcome to Mail Sport’s live blog for the 2023 Ballong d’Or award ceremony.

We’re already underway in terms of revealing the order so I suppose we should get straight into it!