The creation of the Ballon d'Or award in football

The creation of the Ballon d'Or award in football

Who creates the award and how is the recipient of the award determined over the years?

The Ballon d'Or is an annual award for the best football player given by the French magazine France Football. The prize has been awarded since 1956 and was originally only for the best player in Europe. In the years between 2010 and 2015, there was an agreement with FIFA to unify the award for the best football player of the year, given by the world football headquarters and by the magazine. Then the award is called the FIFA Ballon d'Or. However, the partnership ended in 2016 and since then the two awards have remained separate.

The award originated from the idea of the sports writer Garbiel Ano. The Frenchman wants the Ballon d'Or to show who is the best-performing European player in the past calendar year based on his success, his actions on the pitch and contribution to his team's performance in various competitions. The idea is for sports journalists from different countries to vote for the contestants in question. The first "Golden Ball" was awarded in 1956 to the Englishman Stanley Matthews and 16 representatives of member countries of the European football headquarters gave their vote, according to which the award went to the Blackpool footballer.

Until 1995, the idea of giving the award only to European competitors was preserved. In the year in question, every single footballer playing for a club based in the Old Continent is now allowed to participate in the Ballon d'Or competition. The winner then became George Weah of Liberia, who to this day is the only African with such an individual award.

Voting is reserved only for journalists up to and including 2006. From next year, coaches and captains of European clubs have the right to vote. The first winner after the change was the Brazilian Kaka, who plays for Milan. Since 2007, every single professional football player from around the world has been allowed to participate in the Ballon d'Or voting.

In 2010, France Football magazine joined forces with FIFA, and both organizations jointly presented the award for the best footballer of the year. The world football powerhouse has had its own award since 1991, and it's quite often for a player other than the Ballon d'Or winner. However, 2015 was the last year in which the magazine and FIFA interacted, and since 2016 there have been different individual awards again.

In 2020, France Football cancels the awarding of the Ballon d'Or, and only FIFA gives an award for the best football player, which was won by Robert Lewandowski. In 2021 comes the first difference in the winner of the awards since FIFA and the "Golden Ball" separated. Lionel Messi improved his record of winners of the award given by France Football, taking it for the seventh time, while according to FIFA, he remains in second place behind Lewandowski.

After Messi's record seven honors, the second most won Ballon d'Or is Cristiano Ronaldo with 5. Three more players have 3 each. These are Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Michel Platini. Hristo Stoichkov is the only Bulgarian to win the prize. This happened in 1994. The last one where the prize is only for European competitors.

The different countries with the most Ballons d'Or are Argentina, the Netherlands, Portugal and Germany with 7 each. All for Argentina have been won by Leo Messi, while three different Dutchmen and three different Portuguese have won the trophy. The Germans with the Ballon d'Or are five, as are the Italians. These are the countries that hold the record for the most different players to have won the prize.

Among the club teams, Real Madrid has the most different winners - 7, but the honors are 11. Number 1 is Barcelona, for which six different players have brought 12 "Golden Balls". Six different Juventus and AC Milan players have also won the award. The two Italian giants have 8 winners of the trophy each.

For the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or, France Football magazine publishes the names of the players who also deserve the award, if it was not only given to European players. Thus, Pele could have 7 individual awards, Maradona - 2, and with one "Golden Ball" each, Mario Kempes and Garrincha might have been.