Lamine Yamal ousts Kylian Mbappe to make Ballon d’Or history

On Wednesday, France Football revealed the 30-man shortlist for the 2024 Ballon d’Or. Among the nominees was Lamine Yamal, who had a spectacular breakthrough season for Barcelona at the age of only 16.

He was ever-present for the Catalans throughout the 2023-24 campaign, and also played a starring role in Spain’s Euro 2024 success during the summer. Because of this, the Ballon d’Or nomination was inevitable, and well deserved.

As per Sport, Lamine Yamal is the youngest player ever to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or (17 years and 53 days). The previous record, which was held by Kylian Mbappe, has been beaten in considerable fashion, as the Real Madrid star was 18 years and 293 days old when he was up for the award in 2017.

There’s no doubt that this nomination will be the first of many for Lamine Yamal in his career. There is a considerable expectation that the Barcelona sensation will also manage to win the award at some stage.