A successor to Lionel Messi as the world's best footballer will soon be crowned, with the 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony taking place on Monday night.
While the accolade handed out by France Football is primarily an individual award for the best player of any given year, even the voting criteria states that collective success - be it club or country - should also be considered.
After all, football is a team game, and no player can go it alone. As you would expect, past winners of the much-coveted golden ball have mostly played for Europe's elite clubs, albeit with a few notable exceptions.
For instance, Inter Miami became the first non-European team to see their man top the poll when Messi celebrated an historic eighth triumph last year.
Nevertheless, since its more modest beginnings in 1956, the award's winner has graced many top clubs, and Sports Mole now looks at how another success for either Real Madrid or Barcelona would put them top of the all-time table.
Which clubs have won most Ballons d'Or?
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Throughout a 68-year history, several sides have seen their player take the prize on one special occasion: Blackpool (Stanley Matthews, 1956), Dukla Prague (Josef Masopust, 1962) and Borussia Monchengladbach (Allan Simonsen, 1977) being among the least likely of them.
Just three have claimed top spot in France Football's poll twice - Hamburger SV, Inter Milan and Dynamo Kiev - but a tally of four wins or more is reserved for European royalty.
Manchester United have a quartet of winners - Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo - while German giants Bayern Munich can boast five: Gerd Muller once, and doubles for both 'Der Kaiser' Franz Beckenbauer and unstoppable goal-machine Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Italian heavyweights AC Milan and Juventus are locked together on eight, with Milan memorably sweeping all three places on the podium in both 1988 and 1989, when elegant Dutch striker Marco van Basten reigned supreme.
But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most successful clubs of all are Spanish titans Barcelona and Real Madrid on 12 wins apiece - largely aided by the huge personal hauls of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
That means another success for either club this year would push the other down into second place - and both have multiple contenders on the 30-man shortlist.
Which Real Madrid players could tip the balance?
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Many pundits' favourite to prevail on Monday, Vinicius Junior leads the Real Madrid charge, following another successful year under trophy-magnet coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Jude Bellingham also played a huge part in Los Blancos claiming both the Champions League and La Liga titles, scoring a hatful of goals after filling in up front, before helping England reach the Euro 2024 final.
The Three Lions were beaten in Berlin by a Spain side featuring rock-solid right-back Dani Carvajal, who also opened the scoring in last term's Champions League decider.
Another man to make the lengthy 'shortlist', Federico Valverde missed only one game all season en route to collecting three club trophies, then the all-action midfielder captained Uruguay as they finished third at the Copa America.
Defensive rock Antonio Rudiger saw his dreams of a home win for Germany dashed by Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, but he had already cemented his place as one of the world's best centre-backs with impressive displays for Real.
Finally, Kylian Mbappe will surely lift the Ballon d'Or one day - it seems to be written in his destiny - but an ugly exit from Paris Saint-Germain saw him benched for large swathes of the year and then an unfortunate injury wrecked his Euros.
It could be claimed that another nominee, imperious midfield metronome Toni Kroos, would represent a 13th Madrid win, but he retired immediately after Germany's exit and is technically without a club.
Who holds Barcelona's hopes?
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While their old foes can boast a healthy handful of live contenders, Barcelona's slim hopes are pinned on two less likely winners: Spain stars Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal.
Both shone brightly as La Roja deservedly claimed the crown of European champions this summer, but their more modest achievements at club level will surely count against them.
Olmo only recently returned to the Catalan club, while Yamal intermittently impressed during his breakthrough campaign, after previously breaking almost every youth record at La Masia and gaining the tag of Barca's new 'Messi-ah'.
If the votes did go his way, the 17-year-old winger would become the youngest player ever to win the award, also earning Spain just a fourth Ballon d'Or to date.
Incidentally, Argentina (Messi's eight) lead France, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands (seven each) in terms of wins by country, so the South American nation could now be caught - or even extend their lead with a Lautaro Martinez victory - next month.
Who else is in the running?
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Of course, despite Vinicius Junior being heavily fancied to claim the prestigious award on Monday, there is still the possibility that it could go to a player not representing either Real Madrid or Barcelona.
At the front of that queue is Manchester City's Rodri, who was an integral part of both his club's historic fourth successive Premier League title triumph, and Spain's summer success at Euro 2024, being named the player of the tournament in the latter.
It would take an almighty upset for anyone outside of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Rodri to claim the award this year, but the likes of Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez, Man City goal machine Erling Haaland and Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams are among the others on the shortlist.
Incidentally, Karim Benzema was the last Real Madrid player to be named the world's best, in 2022, while for Barcelona the wait goes back to Messi's final triumph in their colours in 2019.
Jonathan O'Shea
