Ballon d’Or, which is seen as the most prestigious football award, made some new amendments to its rules for choosing its new winners. The changes, announced on Friday, will take effect from the next award ceremony, which is said to take place in October, according to various reports.

Change 1: New Calendar

Since its inception in 1956, the Ballon d’Or has been presented at the conclusion of the calendar year, forcing voters to evaluate performance over two half-seasons (January-July and August-December). The trophy will be given at the end of the football season, beginning with the current fiscal year (2021-2022). (from August 2021 to July 2022). from the beginning of major championships to the end of big international events.

“We end up with a definition of the performances to be counted and judged,” explains Pascal Ferré, editor-in-chief of France Football. As a result, the awards will be given out in August 2022. The World Cup in Qatar (November 20–December 18) will be considered for the awarding of the 2023 Ballon d’Or.

Change 2: A new method for compiling final lists

Every year, the editorial staff of France Football and L’Equipe choose 30 men and 20 women to be “candidates” for the Ballon d’Or. From now on, three new jurors will be recruited to produce these lists: In the last vote, Ambassador Didier Drogba and the last two foreign journalists were voted most essential. As a result, France Football reports that the Vietnamese Truong Ahn Ngoc (from The Thao & Van Hoa media) and the Czech Karolina Hlavackova (from Ruik media) have disclosed the same quinté of the 2021 winners. They will be a part of the list-making process.

Change 3: A decrease in the number of voters

After the lists were established, 170 journalists from around the world were asked to vote for the future winners. France Football announces a switch to “an elite of true connoisseurs.” There will now only be 100 votes for the men chosen from the top 100 countries in Fifa’s ranking. The top 50 countries in the ranking for women will be considered. All of this is done in order to avoid “fanciful” votes, according to “FF.”

Change 4: The “player’s career” requirement has vanished.

The final change is that France Football has removed the criterion “player career,” which was the third factor considered by voters. “A way of viewing the Ballon d’Or race as an open competition rather than a private preserve,” writes Pascal Ferré. In recent seasons, voters have sometimes interpreted this as an “anti-Messi” rule.

The three requirements are as follows: 1. individual achievements and the decisive and outstanding nature of the candidates; 2. collective performances and the prize list gathered during the season; and 3. the player’s quality and sense of fair play.

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