May 19 – UEFA and Groupe Amaury, owner of France Football and L’Équipe, have set Monday September 22 as the date for the 69th edition of the Ballon d’Or.
The awards will be held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This is the second time UEFA and Groupe Amaury have co-organised the event that has been presented annually by France Football since 1956.
The 2025 the Ballon d’Or awards have expanded to include three new categories celebrating the achievements of female players.
The 2025 awards will include the Men’s and Women’s Ballon d’Or, Men’s and Women’s Kopa Trophy (best young player), Men’s and Women’s Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper), Men’s and Women’s Gerd Müller Trophy (top scorer in club/national team), Men’s and Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy (best coach in club/national team), Men’s and Women’s Club of the Year, and Sócrates Award, presented by L’Équipe group and Peace and Sport, for solidarity actions or societal causes carried out by a committed champion.
The nominees will be announced at the beginning of August.
The 2024 awards had a shadow cast over them by another petulant display by Real Madrid who boycotted the awards after they discovered Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri had won the men’s Ballon d’Or award rather than their own Vinicius Jnr, who led them to a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.
Despite sweeping the evening’s prizes, the European champions said their representatives would not go where Real are “not respected”.
The women’s Ballon d’Or was won by Spain and Barcelona star Aitana Bonmati for the second successive year.
The awards are based on voting by a panel of journalists from the top 100 FIFA-ranked nations. Each journalist selects 10 players from a list of 30 nominees, placing them in order from 10th to first.
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