European Player Of The Year Award

The Ballon d’Or is an award given each season to the player who has been voted the best playing in Europe that year. It is also known as the European Footballer of the Year Award. The trophy is presented annually by the Paris based magazine, France Football.

Journalists at the magazine create a thirty strong shortlist of players who have performed exceptionally in that calendar year. This is then given to journalists from around the world who each pick a top five. These five are then awarded points based in their position in that journalist’s list, with the winner the player with the most points.

The man behind the Ballon d’Or’s creation was French Journalist Gabriel Hanot. Hanot, a former international for France, also played a large part in bringing professionalism to French Football in the formation of Ligue 1 in 1932. In addition, Hanot played a pivotal role in establishing the European Cup, which would later become the Champions League.

The inaugural trophy was won by England and Blackpool outside right, Stanley Matthews. At the time Matthews was 41 and edged out legendary Real Madrid duo Alfredo Di Stéfano and Raymond Kopa into second and third place.

In 2010, the Ballon d’Or was merged with the FIFA World Player of the year, though this collaboration came to an end after just six years. UEFA also produced their own award with the UEFA Men’s player of the Year in 2011 with FIFA creating the Best FIFA Men’s Player award from 2016. Despite this, the Ballon d’Or remains the most prestigious personal accolade in football.

List of Ballon d’Or Winners: 1956 – 2023