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Ballon d’Or: Who gives it, how?
There are FIFA awards for the best, and there are UEFA awards. But the Ballon d’Or is still considered the most prestigious award in football at the individual level. The French magazine France Football has been giving this award since 1956. Since then, this award has undergone various evolutions in the last seven decades, but its appeal has not diminished at all. Even with so many awards in today’s football, the Ballon d’Or is the most desired by footballers. The idea of giving such an award to the best footballer of the year first came to the minds of two French sports journalists—Gabriel Ano and Jacques Ferran. Both were journalists for L’Equipe. Ferran also worked as the director of France Football magazine. Not only the Ballon d’Or, but also what is now the Champions League, the tournament that started as the European Cup, was also the brainchild of these two journalists. It didn’t take long for the duo’s idea to come to fruition, as France Football began awarding the Player of the Year in 1956. Initially, the award was only for European players, so it was called the European Footballer of the Year. In 1995, the rules changed—any footballer from any country playing for a European club could be nominated. Then, in 2007, the Ballon d’Or became a global award—any professional footballer from any country could win.
Ballon d’Or: Who gives it, how?
From 2010 to 2015, this award merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year in an agreement with FIFA—it was called the FIFA Ballon d’Or. But in 2016, that relationship was broken. The Ballon d’Or returned to its old form, and FIFA also introduced a separate award—The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
Initially, the period considered for the award was the calendar year. However, in 2022, France Football changed this rule again, and the football season began to be considered. Since 2024, the European Football Association (UEFA) has been co-organizing the Ballon d’Or gala, but the ownership of the votes and the name remains in the hands of France Football. Initially, the Ballon d’Or winner was decided only by the votes of football journalists. In 2007, national team coaches and captains also got the right to vote. However, in 2016, France Football returned to the rule of voting only by journalists. In 2022, this rule changed again, only one journalist from each country in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings gets the right to vote.
First, journalists from France Football and the French newspaper L’Equipe jointly created a shortlist of 30 people. Then the voting began. Now one journalist from each country in the top 100 FIFA rankings votes. Each person determines their top-10 – the player in first place gets 15 points, second 12, third 10; then 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point in that order.
The one with the highest points after adding up all the votes wins the Ballon d’Or. If there is a tie, the votes for first place are counted, if there is a tie, the votes for second place are counted, and so on. All votes are published after the awards are announced. make
