The FIFA Ballon d’Or, which was created in the year 2010 with the incorporation of France Football’s Ballon d’Or award and the FIFA ...
The FIFA Ballon d’Or, which was created in the year 2010 with the incorporation of France Football’s Ballon d’Or award
and the FIFA World Player award to become one sole prize. This
collaboration has just been annulled by FIFA and it will cease to be
controlled by the French publication after the contract signed between
both organizations expired with no agreement in place for an extension.
It means that the accolade will return to it’s initial format, and
voting will be reserved exclusively for journalists in Europe.
The
Ballon d’Or was founded in 1956 at the same time as the European
Champion Clubs’ Cup – now the Champions League. It is held annually
until 2010 when then FIFA president Sepp Blatter paid
15 million euros to Éditions Philippe Amaury to have the sole rights to
the trophy – the most prestigious individual award in world football.
But with the arrival of the new FIFA President Gianni Infantino , solid agreements were not reached by the two organizations and the deal was eventually not re-signed after is expired.
Now
FIFA must decide whether they will revive the defunct FIFA World Player
award, which was awarded between 1991 and 2009 through votes from
national team coaches and captains from all of the association members
with the annual gala usually held in early December rather than January,
in Zurich.
