The Ballon d’Or, the renowned prize awarded by France Football, which distinguishes the best male and female footballer, will now evaluate the sporting season to the detriment of the calendar year, the magazine announced this Friday.
Awarded in men’s form since 1956, the award will now be in line with the football season, will include a more restricted jury, a different pre-selection and clearer criteria, according to information provided by France Football, which will present the regulations in its edition collapsed.
“It’s an opportunity to give new impetus. Before, we evaluated two half seasons. This makes it more readable,” explained France Football editor-in-chief Pascal Ferré, in a preview presentation held today in Boulogne-Billancourt.
The next trophy, to be awarded in September or October of this year, will also take into account the season that started in 2021 and will include this year’s Champions League final for the current season and the European Women’s Football Championship (from 06 to 31 July).
This reform comes in a year of great changes in the football calendar, with the World Cup taking place outside its traditional period – which would still cover this season -, and entering the next one, with the dispute taking place between November and December, in Qatar.
A scenario that will put players in the spotlight in the competition with only the possibility of being distinguished by France Fottball in the 2022/23 season.
Other changes include the integration of former Ivorian international Didier Drogba into the committee that will carry out a pre-selection of nominees, and the reduction in the number of jurors, which will continue to have journalists, but one per country.
Voting for men will only be done by 100 voters — unlike the previous 170 -, corresponding to the top 100 countries in the ‘ranking’ of FIFA, and for women it is reduced to half, to 50 people.
A change that France Football justifies to guarantee “the specialty” of those who vote and the respective access to images.
Another important aspect in choosing the winners has to do with collective achievements, which are relegated to the background, with the magazine wanting to privilege “individual performance” and the “decisive or impressive character” of the candidates.
For the magazine, it will no longer make sense to reward the career of players, avoiding making the Ballon d’Or a “fief”.
Since its creation, three Portuguese footballers have been distinguished with this trophy, the first Eusébio, in 1965, then Luís Figo, in 2000, and, finally, Cristiano Ronaldo, in 2008, 2016 and 2017.
The current holders of the trophy are Argentine Lionel Messi and Spanish Alexia Putellas.
Between 2010 and 2015, the trophy was awarded simultaneously with the FIFA best player award, with Cristiano Ronaldo accumulating the distinctions in 2014 and 2013.
