Ballon d’Or 2023 ceremony LIVE: Lionel Messi set to take home his EIGHTH award ahead of 52-goal man Erling Haaland with Jude Bellingham favourite for Kopa

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!