Ballon d’Or 2021 results: Messi beats Jorginho and Kante as Chelsea win club of the year

Hello and welcome to football.london’s live coverage of the Ballon d’Or 2021 awards ceremony.

The annual football award, presented by French magazine France Football, was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but will return tonight to the delight of footballers and fans across the world.

Reigning European champions Chelsea have five players nominated for the 2021 Ballon d’Or, with Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Romelu Lukaku and Cesar Azpilicueta all hoping to beat bookmakers’ favourite Lionel Messi to the award.

The PSG star is the odds-on favourite (4/11) to claim yet another Ballon d’Or award, and already has six in his collection from his glittering career with Barcelona.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane has also been nominated for the award, as have the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka is one of the ten youngsters nominated for the Kopa Trophy alongside the likes of Mason Greenwood and Pedri.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is in contention for the Yashin Trophy, as is Chelsea no.1 Edouard Mendy.

The event will be held at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris, with the ceremony starting around 7:30pm.

L’Equipe will be streaming the ceremony live on their YouTube channel, while fans can also stream the event via Eurosport’s website and app.

Alternatively, follow live coverage of the ceremony with football.london’s live blog below.