Attempting to predict who will win the World Cup Golden Ball can prove difficult, particularly when you consider the previous five recipients have all been runners-up in the final.
However, we have put together a candidate shortlist for potential Player of the Tournament winners, which includes a heavily-favoured frontrunner pick, a dark horse and a somewhat left-field selection for all you risk-taking punters.
World Cup Offers and Free Bets
2022 World Cup Player of the Tournament Outright Odds
| Player | Odds | Bookmaker |
|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | 9/1 |  |
| Neymar |
9/1 | |
| Kylian Mbappe |
11/1 | |
| Karim Benzema |
13/1 | |
| Kevin De Bruyne | 15/1 | |
| Harry Kane |
17/1 | |
| Vinicius Jr |
20/1 | |
| Phil Foden |
25/1 | |
| Lautaro Martinez |
35/1 | |
2022 World Cup Player of the Tournament Betting Guide
Sportslens Golden Ball Tips
- Lionel Messi @ 9/1 with BetUK
- Kevin De Bruyne @ 15/1 with BetUK
- Pedri @ 66/1 with BetUK
Top Frontrunner – Lionel Messi
One final roll of the dice for Lionel Messi.
In what he claims will be his last World Cup with Argentina, the seven-time Ballon D’or winner enters the tournament along with perhaps the most talented cohort he has played with throughout his international career.
An agonising extra-time defeat in the 2014 final cut him to the core, but a staggering campaign during last year’s Copa America saw him carry his nation all the way to the trophy, while also picking up the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball award.
Argentina not only look incredibly dangerous on the surface having remained unbeaten since the summer of 2019, but there is a cohesiveness among this current squad that has been absent in recent years.
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi has made 995 senior appearances in professional football
👀 Game 1000 could be the World Cup Round of 16
🏆 Game 1003 could be… pic.twitter.com/afbfJj622e— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 15, 2022
Everything points to a long and potentially fruitful campaign for La Albiceleste, including the latest outright markets on football betting sites which have them pinned as second-favourites.
Back to his mercurial best having settled into life at the Parc de Princes, Messi has 12 goals and 14 assists in 19 appearances this season, and heads to Qatar in sensational form.
Now a battle-hardened leader and captain with the wounds of previous years to prove it, Messi can push this team to its limits in his international swansong, and pick up a second career Golden Ball award.
Dark Horse – Kevin De Bruyne
Although dark horse and Kevin De Bruyne almost certainly don’t belong in the same sentence, we think 15/1 is an interesting price.
Premier League fans have gotten so used to the mercurial Belgian’s sweeping through balls and surging runs through midfield, but it is easy to forget that he is by far and away the most talented player in the world in his position.
Although it seems unlikely Belgium’s so called ‘golden generation’ will deliver silverware, they are in Group F alongside Morocco, Canada and Croatia. The first two sides could present an opportunity for the Red Devils to rack up the points and De Bruyne will be instrumental should they start building momentum.
25 goals for his national side is a respectable return for a midfielder, while the 31-year-old has been the usual playmaker-in-chief for Manchester City this season having registered 13 assists in 19 games.
Left-Field Outsider – Pedri
For our big value selection, we can’t help but feel 66/1 is an enormous price for Spain’s supremely talented teenager Pedri.
The recipient of the Young Player award at the Euros last year, Barcelona‘s latest generational talent is a masterful technician, gliding across the turf with all the elegance and grace of his now-club manager and compatriot Xavi.
Alongside fellow teenage sensation Gavi and just in front of one of Spain’s most loyal generals, Sergio Busquets, Pedri is Luis Enrique’s most important cog in a well-oiled, efficient ball-keeping side.
Pedri is insane at 19. Unreal player. We are so lucky. pic.twitter.com/sMRZ1FRPmd
— J. (@JosipFCB93) November 16, 2022
They reached the last four of the Euros last year and the 26-man squad announced for this tournament is brimming with youthful exuberance, and Pedri can take the leading role as he did so effectively two summers ago.
Having already scored nearly as many as he did for the Blaugrana last season already this campaign, he heads to Qatar with the potential to light up his very first World Cup.
| World Cup | Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 Spain | Paolo Rossi (Italy) | Falcão (Brazil) | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany) |
| 1986 Mexico | Diego Maradona (Argentina) | Harald Schumacher (West Germany) | Preben Elkjær (Denmark) |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) | Lotah Matthäus (West Germany) | Diego Maradona (Argentina) |
| 1994 United States | Romário (Brazil) | Roberto Baggio (Italy) | Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) |
| 1998 France | Ronaldo (Brazil) | Davor Šuker (Croatia) | Lilian Thuram (France) |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Oliver Kahn (Germany) | Ronaldo (Brazil) | Hong Myung-bo (South Korea) |
| 2006 Germany | Zinedine Zidane (France) | Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) | Andrea Pirlo (Italy) |
| 2010 South Africa | Diego Forlán (Uruguay) | Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) | David Villa (Spain) |
| 2014 Brazil | Lionel Messi (Argentina) | Thomas Müller (Germany) | Arjen Robben (Netherlands) |
| 2018 Russia | Luka Modrić (Croatia) | Eden Hazard (Belgium) | Antoine Griezmann (France) |
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