Less than a month is left until the day when the football world will know the name of the next owner of the Ballon d'Or. The results will be announced on November 29th. For many months, the main favorite among football experts and bookmakers was the Argentine striker PSG Lionel Messi. However, after the player left Barcelona, the bookmakers revised his chances and adjusted the odds.
Top Favorites for Ballon d'Or 2021
The closer to the announcement of the results, the more obvious it becomes that only two players are actually fighting for the title this year. A worthy competitor to Messi this year is only the forward of Bayern Munich and the Polish national team Robert Lewandowski. It is worth noting that the footballer really deserves such recognition, and even from 2020.
In 2021, there are 30 applicants for the Ballon d'Or, however, only two athletes are already fighting among themselves. The reputable British bookmaker Sky Bet accepts bets on the victory of football players with the following odds:
- Lewandowski - 1.72;
- Messi - 2;
- Salah - 15;
- Jorginho - 26;
- Benzema - 34;
- Chiellini - 51;
- Mbappe - 51;
- Kjer - 51;
- Fernandes - 67;
- Ronaldo is 67.
Recall that bookmaking in Russia is also legalized, in contrast to the activities of land-based and online casinos. It is interesting that more and more often the interest of specialists, bookmakers and fans is attracted by events not of the football, but of the hockey world, such as, for example, the long-awaited NHL Round 1 Draft 2020
For comparison, in Ukraine it has been a year since a specialized law on the legalization of the industry has been fully adopted. Prior to that, the Ukrainian gambling business was banned for 9 years. How the market is organized now and how licenses are issued can be read here .
End of the era of confrontation between Ronaldo and Messi
Some experts note that the change in quotations could have been influenced by the possible voting results recently leaked in the media. It is impossible to prove the authenticity of the document posted on Twitter, and since Lewandowski comes first there, the bookmakers reacted accordingly.
After the long dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in 2018, their confrontation was broken by Croat Luka Modric. In 2019, the Argentine won the Ballon d'Or for the sixth time. 2020 is unlikely to be another year of triumph for Messi or Ronaldo. Then the most likely contender for victory was just Lewandowski. However, the award was canceled by the decision of the French publishing house France Football due to an uncomfortable situation.
