miscellanyThe organizer of the Ballon d’Or reacts to the criticism of the past award ceremony. Exactly four rule changes will come into effect this year to ensure a more transparent election result.
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The organizer draws conclusions from the last award ceremony – Photo: image
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No more calendar year: Season should count
PARIS. The criticism after the last Ballon d’Or was given was great, now the rules for the future of the most prestigious football award are being fundamentally revised. This was officially announced by the French football magazine FRANCE FOOTBALL on Friday. In the future, the performance of the current calendar year will no longer be decisive for the evaluation, but that of the past season. That means: This year’s world footballer will be honored for his performance in the 2021/22 season. The second half of 2022, including the Winter World Cup, is only included in the rating of the world footballer in 2023.
The date of the event is thus brought forward. Instead of November or December, the award ceremony should take place in October.
No more January to December.
The #ballondor will now be awarded on the basis of a classic football season : August to July!
No worries, the Qatar World Cup will count for the 2023 award. pic.twitter.com/BPvNp4jTNM
— Ballon d’Or #ballondor (@francefootball) March 11, 2022
Only 100 FIFA countries left to vote
This is not the only rule change: the organizer has decided to make three further adjustments. As of this year, only countries in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings are allowed to vote. So far, all member countries of FIFA (170) were entitled to vote – this is intended to prevent questionable votes being cast. Smaller countries in particular have made some questionable decisions in the past.
The criteria also change: the player’s team performance comes second, just like the titles won. In order to give greater importance to fair play, it is followed by sporting behavior – equated with talent. The previous career path is no longer one of the criteria for this. However, the individual performance of the player is still the most important evaluation criterion.
With this reform, FRANCE FOOTBALL is reacting to the massive criticism regarding the last world footballer election. There, instead of the favorite Robert Lewandowski, Argentinian Lionel Messi won the golden ball. Although the Polish striker from FC Bayern had more titles to show for it. The fact that the overall career is no longer taken into account may have played a role here.
Which voter gave whom how many points? After the Ballon d’Or gala on Monday,… read more
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Incidentally, as of this year, Ambassador Didier Drogba and his expert council are involved in drawing up the nomination lists. Truong Anh Ngoc may also participate. At the last award ceremony, the Vietnamese journalist gave the exact order of the nominees.
In the Communication from L’ÉQUIPE it says, among other things: “This could be seen as a response to sometimes accurate criticism. But above all, it is about the declared will to always pay attention to the impeccability and exemplary nature of the trophy after 65 editions.“
Can such future polemics be prevented? There is always a bit of excitement surrounding the presentation of the most historic individual award in the world of football. Who is the Ballon d‘Or 2022 will probably snap – winning the Champions League could be particularly significant this year!
