Ballon d’Or football award revamps format

The Ballon d’Or, awarded to the world’s best male and female footballer, is revamping its format from next season, organizers France Football magazine said on Friday.

The award will now be based on performances across a whole football season, rather than a calendar year, and the jury that selects the winner will be reduced to around 100 journalists rather than the current 170. The women’s award will have a jury of 50.

The next Ballon d’Or awards will be handed out in September or October 2022 and will be based on the season that ended in July with the women’s Euro 2022.

With the World Cup finals in Qatar not taking place until November and December this year, the stars of that event will have to wait until the 2023 awards.

The changes are also designed to prevent the Ballon d’Or from becoming the equivalent of lifestyle awards.

This is in response to the criticism of the 2021 award given to Lionel Messi for the seventh time, following his transfer to French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

The criteria will also be clarified with ‘individual performances’ given more prominence than factors such as the trophies won by a player’s team or an individual’s ‘sense of fair play’.

ARR