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All About the Ballon d'Or

The Ballon d'Or Award is the world’s most prestigious individual sporting award. The award, created by France Football (owned by the L’Équipe Group), has been awarded since 1956.

the Ballon d'Or trophy

The main awards, presented at an annual gala ceremony are: the men's and women's Ballon d'Or for the best player over the previous seasson; the Kopa Trophy for the best young men's player; Gerd Müller Trophy for the best striker, and the Yashin Trophy for the best male goalkeeper. There is also the Club of the Year Prize and Socrates Award.

Ballon d'Or Voting

The winning players of the Ballon d'Or are voted by a panel of journalists. Starting in 2022, the voters are limited to the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for men and the top 50 nations from the women's rankings. Each journalist makes their top five picks from the shortlist, with each ranking earning a different points value/number of votes. Six points is awarded for a player selected first, then 4 points (2nd), 3 points (3rd), 2 points (4th) and finally one point for a player listed 5th.

The voting assessment criteria was also updated in 2022 to focus on three main factors. The primary criteria is the player's individual performance in the previous European season of August to July, no longer by calendar year, and no longer factoring career success at all. The other factors considered are team success during the previous season, as well as player behavior and fair play.