Aston Villa have two of their figures in a race to win Ballon D’Or in different categories.
Aston Villa’s wind of change appears to be leading to something positive lately after weeks of frustration with their winless and goalless results in the first three games of Premier League.
Last night, they picked up the first win of the season in the Champions League opener after thumping Club Brugge 3-2 on the road. Recently, two Aston Villa men have been named for the Ballon D’Or. One of them is even the new signings, as reported in avfc.co.uk.
“Johan Manzambi has been shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or Young Talent of the Year 2026.”
The other one is none but our distinguished manager, Unai Emery. This is the first time two Villa men are included in the nominations. The last time a Villa player received nomination and won was Emiliano Martinez in the 2023 and 2024. The Argentine won the Best Goalkeeper at that time.
The Swiss international receives his first nomination in the award due to his form in the 2025/26 season. He helped Freiburg reach their first continental final in Europa League with seven goals and nine assists in all competitions. Manzambi also registered three goals and two assists in his World Cup debut too.
His rivals in this category are two Barcelona men, Lamine Yamal, the winner in the last two years, the world cup winner Pau Cubarsi, Real Madrid youngster, Yan Diomande, Bournemouth man El Junior Kroupi, PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery, Algerian international Ibrahim Maza, Morocco international Ayyoub Bouddadi, Bosnian Kerim Alajbegovic and Bayern’s youngster Lennart Karl.
Manzambi might have quite a chance to win but he would have to face off the favorite Pau Cubarsi, who won domestic doubles with Barcelona and 2026 World Cup with Spain plus Lamine Yamal for sure. He has been the key man in Blaugrana and La Furia Roja.
Meanwhile, Unai Emery himself is one of the shortlisted managers in the Coach of the Year. He will be in contention with his countrymen, PSG’s Luis Enrique, Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, Spain national team manager, Luis De La Fuente plus Bayern Munich’s Vincent Kompany.
This would be the first for Emery to get nominated. His success in ending Aston Villa’s 30-year-title-drought is well appreciated by clinching his fifth Europa League.
Regarding his chance, it would be quite tricky to win but he might be in a tight competition with Luis Enrique and Luis De La Fuente. Enrique’s success with Champions League title back-to-back is simply superb while De La Fuente’s triumphant World Cup campaign to win the second title in 16 years is remarkable too. So, it is likely to be a tight race.
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