Ballon d'Or

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]}