After its abolition in 2020, the Golden Ball award, which is the focus of the world's round witch, returns, because it is the highest individual award that a player can win in history.

The award is given - as usual - in December of each year, and this means that players who hope to succeed Argentine star Lionel Messi have several months to present their needs, although most of the titles have been won and won.

Among these candidates is the Italian Jorginho, after winning the Champions League with his Chelsea team, followed by the European Nations Cup with the Italian national team, then the European Super Cup with the "Blues", before crowning his career with the award for the best player in Europe.

But, will this pave the way for the Italian star to win the Gold Award, surpassing Messi and pulling the "best player in the world" rug from him, and repeating the achievement of Croatian Luka Modric, Real Madrid's player, when he won the award in 2018?

According to performance and statistics, the list of 20 players competing for the prestigious award, according to the global website Goal, is:

20. Phil Foden (Manchester City).

19. Spaniard Pedri (Barcelona).

18. German Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City).

17. The Englishman Mason Mount (Chelsea).

16. Brazilian Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain).

15. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donna Roma (Paris Saint-Germain).

14. England's Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur).

13. Robin Diaz (Manchester City).

12. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).

11. French Karim Benzema (Real Madrid).

10. Italian Federico Chiesa (Juventus).

9. Norwegian Erling Haaland (Dortmund).

8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).

7. Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City).

6. Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain).

5. The Belgian Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea).

4. Frenchman N'Golo Kante (Chelsea).

3. The Italian Jorginho (Chelsea).

2. Polish Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich).

1. Argentine Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain).