Ballon d'Or Day: everything you need to know

In the first edition of the Ballon d'Or to be awarded for the season rather than the year, the Ballon d'Or is back. The award will be presented this evening from the Châtelet theatre in Paris, the venue for a gala that will offer a total of ten different distinctions ranging from the individual to the collective level.
It is well known that Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior is the leading candidate for the most coveted award, but that is not the only important fact.
The Ballon d'Or gala kicks off at 20:45 Spanish time on Monday 28th October 2024. It can be followed live on BeSoccer.
Although the men's and women's Ballon d'Or are the most glittering awards, there is a list of ten awards:
- Men's Ballon d'Or for the best player in the world.
- Women's Ballon d'Or for the best female player in the world.
- Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper in the world.
- Kopa Trophy for the best U21 player in the world.
- Men's Football Coach of the Year.
- Coach of the year in women's football.
- Club of the year in men's football.
- Club of the year in women's football.
- Gerd Müller Trophy for the best goal scorer in the world.
- Socrates Award for humanitarian work from a footballing perspective.



UEFA has published a list of candidates for almost all the awards. It is as follows:
- Men's Ballon d'Or for the best player in the world:
Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid).
Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Turkey, Inter)
Dani Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid)
Rúben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City)
Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine, Dnipro / Girona / Roma)
Phil Foden (England, Manchester City)
Alejandro Grimaldo (Spain, Bayer Leverkusen)
Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City)
Mats Hummels (Germany, Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund)
Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich)
Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid)
Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta)
Emiliano Martinez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
Lautaro Martinez (Argentina, Inter)
Kylian Mbappé (France, Paris Saint-Germain / Real Madrid)
Martin Ødegaard (Norway, Arsenal)
Dani Olmo (Spain, Leipzig / Barcelona)
Cole Palmer (England, Manchester City / Chelsea)
Declan Rice (England, Arsenal)
Rodri (Spain, Manchester City)
Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Real Madrid)
Bukayo Saka (England, Arsenal)
William Saliba (France, Arsenal)
Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid)
Vinícius Júnior (Brazil, Real Madrid)
Vitinha (Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain)
Nico Williams (Spain, Athletic Club)
Florian Wirtz (Germany, Bayer Leverkusen)
Granit Xhaka (Switzerland, Bayer Leverkusen)
Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona).
- Women's Golden Ball for the best female player in the world.
Barbra Banda (Zambia, Shanghai RCB / Orlando Pride)
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain, Barcelona)
Lucy Bronze (England, Barcelona / Chelsea)
Mariona Caldentey (Spain, Barcelona / Arsenal)
Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi, Paris Saint-Germain / Lyon)
Grace Geyoro (France, Paris Saint-Germain)
Manuela Giugliano (Italy, Rome)
Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway, Barcelona)
Patricia Guijarro (Spain, Barcelona)
Giulia Gwinn (Germany, Bayern Munich)
Yui Hasegawa (Japan, Manchester City)
Ada Hegerberg (Norway, Lyon)
Lauren Hemp (England, Manchester City)
Lindsey Horan (USA, Lyon)
Lauren James (England, Chelsea)
Marie-Antoinette Katoto (France, Paris Saint-Germain)
Alyssa Naeher (USA, Chicago Red Stars)
Sjoeke Nüsken (Germany, Chelsea)
Ewa Pajor (Poland, Wolfsburg / Barcelona)
Salma Paralluelo (Spain, Barcelona)
Gabi Portilho (Brazil, Corinthians)
Alexia Putellas (Spain, Barcelona)
Mayra Ramirez (Colombia, Levante / Chelsea)
Trinity Rodman (USA, Washington Spirit)
Lea Schüller (Germany, Bayern Munich)
Khadija Shaw (Jamaica, Manchester City)
Sophia Smith (USA, Portland Thorns)
Mallory Swanson (USA, Chicago Red Stars)
Tarciane (Brazil, Corinthians / Houston Dash)
Glódís Viggósdóttir (Iceland, Bayern München).
- Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper.
Diogo Costa (Portugal, Porto)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy, Paris Saint-Germain)
Gregor Kobel (Switzerland, Borussia Dortmund)
Andriy Lunin (Ukraine, Real Madrid)
Mike Maignan (France, Milan)
Giorgi Mamardashvili (Georgia, Valencia)
Emiliano Martinez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
Unai Simon (Spain, Athletic Club)
Yann Sommer (Switzerland, Inter)
Ronwen Williams (South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns)
- Kopa Trophy for the best U21 player in the world.
Pau Cubarsí (Spain, Barcelona)
Alejandro Garnacho (Argentina, Manchester United)
Arda Güler (Turkey, Real Madrid)
Karim Konaté (Côte d'Ivoire, Salzburg)
Kobbie Mainoo (England, Manchester United)
João Neves (Portugal, Benfica / Paris Saint-Germain)
Savinho (Brazil, Girona / Manchester City)
Mathys Tel (France, Bayern Munich)
Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona)
Warren Zaïre-Emery (France, Paris Saint-Germain)
- Men's Football Coach of the Year.
Xabi Alonso (Spain, Bayer Leverkusen)
Carlo Ancelotti (Italy, Real Madrid)
Luis de la Fuente (Spain, Spain)
Gian Piero Gasperini (Italy, Atalanta)
Pep Guardiola (Spain, Manchester City)
Lionel Scaloni (Argentina, Argentina).
- Women's football coach/coach of the year.
Sonia Bompastor (France, Lyon / Chelsea)
Arthur Elias (Brazil, Corinthians / Brazil)
Jonatan Giráldez (Spain, Barcelona / Washington Spirit)
Emma Hayes (England, Chelsea / USA)
Filipa Patão (Portugal, Benfica)
Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands, England).
- Men's Football Club of the Year.
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Girona (Spain)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Manchester City (England)
Real Madrid (Spain)
- Club of the year in women's football .
Barcelona (Spain)
Chelsea (England)
Lyon (France)
NJ/NY Gotham (USA)
Paris Saint-Germain (France).
- Gerd Müller Trophy for the best goal scorer in the world: no nominees,
- Socrates Award for humanitarian work from a footballing perspective: no nominees.

Although the criteria of the voting panel tends to generate controversy in each edition as to which items each ballot paper follows, here is UEFA's official explanation of what each judge must adhere to when making their assessment:
‘(1) Individual performances, decisiveness and impact.
2) Team performances and achievements
3) Class and fair play
The Ballon d'Or is awarded by an international jury of specialised journalists, with one representative per country, from the top 100 of the latest FIFA rankings (before the lists are published) for men and from the top 50 for women.
Each jury selects ten players in descending order of merit from a list of 30 established by the editorial staff of ‘France Football’, members of the editorial staff of ‘L'Equipe’, the best jury of the previous edition (Costa Rica for the men's Ballon d'Or, South Africa for the women's) and UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo for the men's trophy and Nadine Kessler for the women's trophy.
The ten selected players receive 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point respectively. The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the player with the highest number of points. In the event of a tie, the players are separated by the number of first place votes. If there is still a tie, they are separated by the number of votes for second place, then by the number of votes for third place, and so on.
The reigning Ballon d'Or winner is Leo Messi, who won it for the 8th time in his career last season. These are all the winners in the history of the trophy:
1956: Stanley Matthews - Blackpool.
1957: Alfredo Di Stéfano - Real Madrid.
1958: Raymond Kopa - Real Madrid.
1959: Alfredo Di Stéfano - Real Madrid.
1960: Luis Suárez - FC Barcelona.
1961: Omar Sivori - Juventus.
1962: Josef Masopust - Dukla Prague.
1963: Lev Yashin - Dynamo Moscow.
1964: Denis Law - Manchester United.
1965: Eusébio - Benfica.
1966: Bobby Charlton - Manchester United.
1967: Florian Albert - Ferencváros.
1968: George Best - Manchester United.
1969: Gianna Rivera - Genoa.
1970: Gerd Müller - Bayern Munich.
1971: Johan Cruyff - Ajax.
1972: Johan Cruyff - Ajax.
1973: Johan Cruyff - Barcelona.
1974: Johan Cruyff - Barcelona.
1975: Oleg Blokhin - Dynamo Kiev.
1976: Johan Cruyff - Barcelona.
1977: Allan Simonsen - Borussia Monchengladbach.
1978: Kevin Keegan - Hamburg.
1979: Kevin Keegan - Hamburg.
1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge - Bayern Munich.
1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge - Bayern Munich.
1982: Paolo Rossi - Juventus.
1983: Michel Platini - Juventus.
1984: Michel Platini - Juventus.
1985: Michel Platini - Juventus.
1986: Igor Belanov - Dynamo Kiev.
1987: Ruud Gullit - AC Milan.
1988: Marco van Basten - AC Milan.
1989: Marco van Basten - AC Milan.
1990: Lothar Matthäus - Inter Milan.
1991: George Weah - AC Milan. 1992: Marco van Basten - AC Milan. 1993: Roberto Baggio - Juventus. 1994: Hristo Stoichkov - Barcelona. 1995: George Weah - AC Milan. 1996: Matthias Sammer - Borussia Dortmund. 1997: Ronaldo - Inter de Milán. 1998: Zinedine Zidane - Juventus. 1999: Rivaldo - Barcelona. 2000: Luis Figo - Real Madrid. 2001: Michael Owen - Liverpool. 2002: Ronaldo - Real Madrid. 2003: Pavel Nedvěd - Juventus de Turín. 2004: Andriy Shevchenko - AC Milan. 2005: Ronaldinho - Barcelona. 2006: Fabio Cannavaro - Real Madrid. 2007: Kaká - AC Milan. 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United. 2009: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2010: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2011: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2012: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid. 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid. 2015: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid. 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid. 2018: Luka Modrić - Real Madrid. 2019: Lionel Messi - Barcelona. 2020: It was not awarded because of the coronavirus pandemic. 2021: Lionel Messi - Paris Saint-Germain. 2022: Karim Benzema - Real Madrid. 2023: Lionel Messi - Inter Miami and PSG. 2024: ???