Miedema has a chance to win Golden Ball, Gravenberch nominated for talent award | NOW

Vivianne Miedema has a chance to win the Golden Ball this year. The Orange women striker is one of the twenty nominees for the prestigious election of the French magazine France Football. Ryan Gravenberch is in the running for the talent award.

The 26-year-old Miedema had a strong season at her club Arsenal. The all-time top scorer for the Dutch national team scored 14 goals and provided eight assists for the Londoners, finishing a disappointing second place in the Women’s Super League.

Last summer Miedema had a disappointing European Championship. After the opening match against Sweden (1-1), in which she was one of the stars, she tested positive for the corona virus. As a result, she was forced to miss the group matches against Portugal (3-2) and Switzerland (4-1).

In the quarterfinals against France, Miedema did return to the Orange Women, but she was not completely fit. With the striker in the base, the defending champion went down against the French women, which led to the resignation of national coach Mark Parsons. She called it a “fucking tournament”.

Miedema has to compete for the Golden Ball in the election with, among others, Beth Mead, who became European champion in his own country with the England of national coach Sarina Wiegman. Together with the German Alexandra Popp, who is also nominated for the Golden Ball, she became top scorer at the European Championship. They both scored six times.

The Golden Ball for women has only been awarded by . since 2018 France Football. Never before has a Dutch player managed to win the prize. Lieke Martens was named World Footballer of the Year in 2017, but that was a different election, organized by world football association FIFA.

The winner of the Golden Ball will be announced on October 17 during a gala in Paris. The nominations for the men will also be announced on Friday evening.

Gravenberch competes for talent prize

Gravenberch has a chance to win the Kopa Trophy. The former Ajax player is one of ten nominees for the prestigious talent award, which is awarded annually to the best player up to the age of 21.

Besides Gravenberch are Karim Adeyemi, Jude Bellingham (both Borussia Dortmund), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen) and Gavi (FC Barcelona) nominated.

Twenty-year-old Gravenberch had a strong season at Ajax. He was one of the best players in the team of then coach Erik ten Hag, who won the league title and reached the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Then Gravenberch earned a transfer to Bayern Munich, who paid 18.5 million euros for the Ajax midfielder. In the first weeks in Germany, the ten-time Orange international was a banker.

Gravenberch was also nominated for the Kopa Trophy last year, but then he finished eighth. The talent award then went to FC Barcelona player Pedri. The Spanish midfielder has not even received a nomination now. Matthijs de Ligt was named the greatest talent under 21 in 2019, making him the only Dutch winner of the Kopa Trophy.