Imagine winning an award, specifically a golden ball, that is only handed out to one player out of the millions spanning across hundreds of leagues. The Ballon d’Or wasn’t designed to reward a talented player, but rather the most foundational player of the season. One who showcased technical brilliance on and off the pitch, such as leadership, work ethic and respect.

Many times, players have been blinded by personal greed and forget what the award actually entails. Think of this award as a representation of your team’s accomplishment and significance, so rather than you being the winner — the whole squad are winners. Very few players accomplish this because they don’t think for themselves — they view as a collective.

After a long, grueling, heart-stopping season of European football, Paris Saint Germain have been crowned Champions League winners, acquiring their second Champions League trophy in a row — diminishing the decade-long curse that apprehended them from winning prior to this. PSG is now considered one of the five powerhouses in modern football, tackling great foes like Manchester City and Real Madrid.

Fortunately, PSG’s very own striker, Ousmane Dembele, won his first Ballon d'Or last year after going on a historic run — ambushing giants like Bayern Munich and Barcelona in the Champions League. Teams who have contested them the last few years.

If you’ve ever witnessed the legendary form of Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2008 season of Manchester United, envision him like the Thanos of football — there is and has never been anyone who’s come close to a greater individual performance in the history of the sport. While that is subjective, there's some truth to it. And although football may face a mutant-level threat, there’s always a Tony Stark to defeat it. Lionel Messi is dubbed as the greatest Barcelona player, if not the greatest player in history. And the record-breaking eight Ballon d’Ors he’s won backs that. These two clashed together like raging bulls, pulling off spectacular performances year after year, never running dry, and one winning one year while the other preps to steal from them the following year. But at the end of the race, Messi has ripped through the finish line first with the most Ballon d’Ors between the two.

And this is coming from someone who missed the few fiery years that elevated the competitiveness between the two. Always fighting for gold. They created the most competitive and memorable rivalry to ever exist, which transmutes into a golden, beautiful era of football. You could ask your parents, even grandparents, how spectacular they were. Even your coach, unless you want them to cut your scrimmage duration to half and listen to a conductive speech about how good those two were.

But now, the world is continually introduced to a new talent reigning through the leagues, leaving a name on the table. This Ballon d’Or is filled with a ton of new faces, making it highly unlikely Messi or Ronaldo will add another ball to their shelf. Top contenders, such as Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, and Harry Kane are currently going through an excruciating three-way fight. Each week, Ballon d’Or representatives list the top 30 power rankings for both men and women, predicting likely candidates for the award. France’s Kylian Mbappe sits comfortably at the top spot, with slight challenges from Kane.

After a dominant, yet short-lived performance at the World Cup, French wonder Michael Olise has risen through the ranks of the award, flying up the leaderboard at the expense of his world-class performances for the French team. Olise earned a match rating of 9.0 for his contribution late in the game against Belgium when France was down 2-0. Things looked rough until Olise was subbed in, securing two goals and one assist, earning POTM (player of the match). Having been included in the discussion for the Ballon d’Or, Olise has disregarded the idea of winning the award with a nonchalant ignore whenever he’s asked about it. But as of now, he’s spoken with slight optimism in winning the award, but states the team is the first priority and it's far more important to win trophies as a team then winning a personal award for himself.

The Ballon d'Or ceremony officially starts in late October. The world is still indecisive on who their next Messi or Ronaldo will be. The next way-maker of this new era. One name will be decided, one name will be announced, and that entitled name will run the sport for the foreseeable future. You could say they're in a league of their own.