So much about the Ballon d'Or suggests that it does not care about women's football

The release of the Ballon d'Or shortlists naturally focused on the absence of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo from the men's top 30 for the first time in 21 years, yet the real glaring omissions were to be found among the awards ceremony's token efforts regarding women's football.

- Tom Garry

Before even getting to the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or Féminin, some major things are missing. Two awards, let alone individual nominees. That is because the organisers, France Football and Uefa, will be presenting prizes to the top men's goalkeeper of the year - the Yashin trophy - and the top young player of the year- the Kopa trophy - but neither of those categories has yet been created for the women's game since the Ballon d'Or expanded to recognise female footballers in 2018.

The lack of an award for under-21 female players is a crying shame because it is a missed opportunity to celebrate players such as the 20-year-old Barcelona and Spain forward Salma Paralluelo, the Colombia and Real Madrid winger Linda Caicedo and the United States and Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson. There will be plenty of deserved applause for Lamine Yamal, Kobbie Mainoo or Alejandro Garnacho, just none for their female counterparts.

For goalkeepers such as Spain's World Cup winner Cata Coll, who also won the Women's Champions League with Barcelona, or Mary Earps, who added an FA Cup to her World Cup Golden Glove, the organisers have made it clear they are not as worthy of recognition as Emiliano Martínez.

A spokesperson for the Ballon d'Or defended the awards and pointed to their addition of a women's coach of the year prize, saying: "We have been committed to honouring women's football since the inception of the Women's Ballon d'Or in 2018 and are proud of the progress made thus far."

Then there is the date of the awards, Monday 28 October, clashing as it does annually- with a women's international break. This guarantees some of the female nominees will not be able to attend the ceremony in Paris.