The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award a football player can aspire to win. And today, Monday, September 22, we will have two new recipients, and it points that they will be brand new receivers, both in men's and women's categories.
Ballon d'Or was first awarded in 1956. It reaches now the 69th edition, but the ceremony has grown considerably in the last decades, with now 13 categories in total, picking young players, coaches, goalkeepers, high-scorers...
Despite being something so fiercely discussed between football fans, not everyone knows how does the voting process work. And, admittedly, it is a bit unusual, as only one journalist is allowed to vote for each country. Unlike other awards, the jury is relatively small: 100 journalists (one for each country, the best 100 countries in the FIFA rankings) for the men's award, and 50 journalists for women's award.
Each journalist picks 10 players, which are given 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points. In the case of a tie, the players are picked by the number of first-place votes (and then second place votes, third place votes...).
Criteria: France Football asks jurors to base their votes on three main criteria:
Individual performances, decisive and impressive character
Team performances and achievements
Class and fair play
That's how the winners are decided, but the shortlist of 30 players is picked differently: it is chosen by a team of journalists from L'Équipe, the best jurors from the previous edition, and Luís Figo (for men's award) and Nadine Kessler (for women's award) acting as UEFA ambassadors.
Almost every category works the same way, but with a reduced number of shortlist players, and jurors picking less players (for Club of the Year, Coach of the year, Kopa Award for best U21...).
As a remainder, here's the shortlist for Ballon d'Or 2025:
Women's Ballon d'Or 2025
Lucy Bronze (Chelsea, England)
Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride, Zambia)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona, Spain)
Sandy Baltimore (Chelsea, France)
Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal, Spain)
Klara Bühl (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Sofia Cantore (Juventus-Washington Spirit, Italy)
Steph Catley (Arsenal, Australia)
Melchie Dumornay (Olympique Lyon, France)
Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City, Malawi)
Emily Fox (Arsenal, United States)
Cristiana Girelli (Juventus, Italy)
Esther González (Gotham FC, Spain)
Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona, Norway)
Patri Guijarro (Barcelona, Spain)
Amanda Gutierres (Palmeiras, Brazil)
Hannah Hampton (Chelsea, England)
Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich, Denmark)
Lindsey Heaps (Olympique de Lyon, United States)
Chloe Kelly (Arsenal, England)
Marta (Orlando Pride, Brazil)
Frida Leonhardsen Maanum (Arsenal, Norway)
Ewa Pajor (Barcelona, Poland)
Clara Mateo (Paris FC, France)
Alessia Russo (Arsenal, England)
Claudia Pina (Barcelona, Spain)
Alexia Putellas (Barcelona, Spain)
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea, Spain)
Caroline Weie (Real Madrid, Scotland)
Leah Williamson (Arsenal, England)
Men's Ballon d'Or 2025
Ousmane Dembele (PSG, France)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG, Italy)
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid, England)
Desire Doue (PSG, France)
Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan, Netherlands)
Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund, Guinea)
Erling Haaland (Man City, Norway)
Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal, Sweden)
Achraf Hakimi (PSG, Morocco)
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, England)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG, Georgia)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland)
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool, Argentina)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan, Argentina)
Scott McTominay (Napoli, Scotland)
Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid, France)
Nuno Mendes (PSG, Portugal)
Joao Neves (PSG, Portugal)
Pedri (Barcelona, Spain)
Cole Palmer (Chelsea, England)
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich, France)
Raphinha (Barcelona, Brazil)
Declan Rice (Arsenal, England)
Fabian Ruiz (PSG, Spain)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands)
Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid, Brazil)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt)
Florian Wirtz (Liverpool, Germany)
Vitinha (PSG, Portugal)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona, Spain)
Who do you think will win Ballon d'Or this year?