Year after year, Manchester City have had several representatives nominated for France Football’s prestigious Ballon d’Or award.
Erling Haaland is the only Sky Blues star to be named in the 30-man shortlist for the accolade.
Considering Rodri won the Ballon d’Or in 2024, the fact that a year later, only one of his teammates is in the running for the award sums up how far City have fallen since then.
While it would be a shock if Haaland took home the honour, Manchester City fans are upset that Omar Marmoush was not one of the nominees — with 28 goals and 17 assists to his name in 51 games last season.
Man City fans baffled Omar Marmoush was not nominated for the Ballon d’Or
One frustrated Manchester City fan believes Marmoush deserves to be among the five names to win the Ballon d’Or, writing: “Actually a disgrace. Deserves top five.”
Another City supporter pinpointed how incredible the Egyptian’s numbers were at Eintracht Frankfurt and how he continued to perform at the Etihad Stadium, expressing their shock at his exclusion: “This is crazy btw [by the way]. He had the 4th highest G/A [goals and assists] with 24 in Germany and left in January. He got a further seven at City. For context HK [Harry Kane] was first with 35 and [Michael] Olise was second with 27.”
A third Manchester City fan criticised France Football for nominating Vinicius Jr and Alexis Mac Allister but leaving Marmoush’s name off their Ballon d’Or shortlist, writing: “45G/A in all comps with these individual awards but they decided to ignore this and nominate Mac Allister and Vinicius. Wow, Ballon d’Or, you guys have really outdone yourselves.”
A fourth Sky Blues supporter added to the discourse by simply writing: “Disgusting he’s not nominated.”
A fifth City fan also went on to ask: “How has Omar Marmoush not made the list with 40 plus G/A in all competitions?”
Finally, a sixth Manchester City fan was confused how Serhou Guirassy was nominated for the Ballon d’Or instead of Marmoush, posing the question: “Serhou Guirassy making the Ballon d’Or list but a 45 G/A in 51 apps in all comps [competition] Omar Marmoush hasn’t been listed? Madness.”
The supporter added: “What on earth are Florian Wirtz and Scott McTominay doing there? This is baffling!”
Rodri has named the next Man City player who can win the Ballon d’Or
Ultimately, considering Marmoush has shone at Manchester City, the fans’ frustration could be short-lived as he has every chance of being nominated for the Ballon d’Or in the near future.
The versatile forward looks like a perfect fit in Pep Guardiola’s system and next season, he could hit another gear after spending months playing and training with his City teammates.
Furthermore, Rodri believes Haaland could win the Ballon d’Or one day, having been nominated for the award five times in his career already.
The Norwegian finished second in the race for the award behind Lionel Messi in 2023, which shows that the Spaniard has a strong chance of making history one day.
