Ballon d’Or organisers France Football have decided to make four changes to the way their awards are handed out following Lionel Messi’s win over Robert Lewandowski in 2021
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Lionel Messi wins record seventh Ballon d’Or: Darren Wells reports
Ballon d’Or organisers France Football have decided to make four key changes to the process for the 2022 award.
Lionel Messi won the 2021 edition of the Ballon d’Or in November – his seventh – beating Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho to the award.
Messi collected the award after helping Argentina win the Copa America and Barcelona claim the Copa del Rey.
France Football introduced the Ballon d’Or Feminin in 2018 and last year’s award went to Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas.
The award for the best men’s and women’s player – as well as the Kopa Trophy for the best player under the age of 21 and the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper – is voted for by journalists, captains and coaches.
It has been running in one form or another since 1956, but the organisers have now decided to ratify changes to the way it is run.
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As per France Football , they are as follows:
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A change from judging by years to by seasons: decisions will now be based on performances between the traditional season of August and July, rather than calendar years, which used to combine two half-campaigns.
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A change in who puts together the shortlists: Ballon d’Or ambassador Didier Drogba and the journalists who came closer to getting the last year’s results right will be involved in choosing the shortlisted candidates, which runs to 30 for the main award and 20 for the young player and goalkeeper trophy.
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A change in the number of people able to vote: last year saw representatives from 170 countries take part in the process, but from now on only the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings – and the top 50 for women’s football – will be able to vote.
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A slight tweak to the criteria: as it’s an individual award, voters are being instructed to focus on the players’ individual performances over collective achievements, with fair play and setting a good example also counting towards the overall weighting.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What changes would you make to the Ballon d’Or voting process? Comment below.
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What those changes will mean in practice remains to be seen and won’t become obvious until the process kicks into gear once again later this year.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have had a strong stranglehold on the award, with 12 of the last 13 editions going to the Argentine or Portuguese star.
However, that could be about to change, with Messi making less of an impact following his move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain and Ronaldo playing for a struggling Manchester United after leaving Juventus in the summer.
According to the bookmakers, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is currently the frontrunner for the award at 3/1.
Lewandowski (4/1), Messi (6/1), Kylian Mbappe (8/1), Karim Benzema (10/1) and Kevin De Bruyne (12/1) are the other contenders for the trophy at this early stage.
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