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Ballon d'Or

Ballon d'Or
Ballon d'Or trophy
Date1956 (1956)
CountryFrance
Presented byFrance Football
First awarded1956
Current holderArgentina Lionel Messi
(8th Award)
Most awardsArgentina Lionel Messi
(8 awards)
Most nominationsPortugal Cristiano Ronaldo
(18 nominations)[1]
Websitefrancefootball.fr

The Ballon d'Or is a special award given to a football player every single year. It has been given since 1956 by a French news magazine called France Football. From 2010 to 2015, it was combined with another award called FIFA World Player of the Year, and together they were known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or. However, in 2016, they separated again, and the award returned to its original name, the Ballon d'Or. FIFA also started giving its own separate award called The Best FIFA Men's Player.[2][3]

The Ballon d'Or was created by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran. It is given to the male player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season. Football journalists used to do the voting for this award from 1956 to 2006.[4] At first, it was only given to players from Europe and was called the European Footballer of the Year award. But in 1995, it was expanded to include players from any part of the world who have played for European clubs.[5] After 2007, coaches and captains of national teams were also allowed to vote.[6] This made the award a global prize, and any professional football player from around the world became eligible to win it. In 2022, France Football changed some rules for the Ballon d'Or. They decided to give the award not for achievements in a calendar year but for a football season.[7] They also made it so that only countries in the top 100 of the FIFA World Ranking could vote for the award.[8] There is a different vote each year. It is for individual players to get recognised. Despite its popularity, critics have described the award as a "popularity contest", criticising its voting process and for systematically singling out an individual in a team sport.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

  1. "Ballon d'Or: Players who have received the most nominations". 90min. 15 November 2021. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. Anderson, Christopher J.; Arrondel, Luc; Blais, André; Daoust, Jean-François; Laslier, Jean-François; Van Der Straeten, Karine (2020). "Messi, Ronaldo, and the Politics of Celebrity Elections: Voting for the Best Soccer Player in the World". Perspectives on Politics. 18: 91–110. doi:10.1017/S1537592719002391. S2CID 159085102.
  3. "Ballon d'Or, FIFA The Best awards: what's the difference between them?". Diario AS. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023. Created by France Football in 1956, the Ballon d'Or is generally regarded as soccer's most prestigious award.
  4. Straeten, Karine van der; Laslier, Jean-François; Daoust, Jean-François; Blais, André; Arrondel, Luc; Anderson, Christopher J. (2020). "Messi, Ronaldo, and the Politics of Celebrity Elections: Voting for the Best Soccer Player in the World". Perspectives on Politics. 18: 91–110. doi:10.1017/S1537592719002391. ISSN 1537-5927.
  5. "Ballon d'Or scandal as player drops bombshell and claims his votes were changed to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo was lies".
  6. Straeten, Karine van der; Laslier, Jean-François; Daoust, Jean-François; Blais, André; Arrondel, Luc; Anderson, Christopher J. (2020). "Messi, Ronaldo, and the Politics of Celebrity Elections: Voting for the Best Soccer Player in the World". Perspectives on Politics. 18: 91–110. doi:10.1017/S1537592719002391. ISSN 1537-5927.
  7. "Ballon d'Or : Quatre changements pour l'histoire".
  8. "Ballon d'Or : Quatre changements pour l'histoire".
  9. "Ballon d'Or, FIFA The Best awards: what's the difference between them?". Diario AS. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023. Created by France Football in 1956, the Ballon d'Or is generally regarded as soccer's most prestigious award.
  10. Why the Ballon d'Or is a waste of time
  11. Why the Ballon d’Or is stupid and quite possibly evil
  12. Weekly Why: FIFA's Ballon d'Or and the Absurdity of Glorifying Individual Awards
  13. The Ballon d'Or Is Stupid, But Mohamed Salah Deserves To Win It Anyway
  14. Los votos 'perdidos' del Balón de Oro

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