Football's Prestigious Award: List of Nominees, Past Winners, and the Methodology for Selection

The 69th edition of the prestigious Golden Ball Awards is set to take place on Monday at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This annual event, a joint production of France Football and L'Équipe, brings together sports journalists from the 100 best-ranked FIFA nations to honour the best footballers of the year.

The Golden Ball Awards ceremony is not just about recognising the men's and women's Golden Ball winners. It also celebrates the Kopa (best young player), Yashin (best goalkeeper), Gerd Müller (best scorer), Johan Cruyff (best coach), club of the year, and Socrates awards.

For the Men's Johan Cruyff award, five nominees have been shortlisted: Antonio Conte, Luis Enrique, Hansi Flick, Enzo Maresca, and Arne Slot. Meanwhile, the Women's Johan Cruyff award nominees include Sonia Bompastor, Arthur Elias, Justine Madugu, Renée Slegers, and Sarina Wiegman.

The nominees for the Men's Ballon d'Or are a diverse group, featuring Jude Bellingham, Ousmane Dembélé, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Désiré Doué, Denzel Dumfries, Serhou Guirassy, Viktor Gyökeres, Erling Haaland, Achraf Hakimi, Harry Kane, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Robert Lewandowski, Alexis Mac Allister, Lautaro Martínez, Kylian Mbappé, Scott McTominay, Nuno Mendes, João Neves, Michael Olise, Cole Palmer, Pedri, Raphinha, Declan Rice, Fabián Ruiz, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Vinícius Júnior, Vitinha, Florian Wirtz, and Lamine Yamal.

In the Women's Ballon d'Or category, Sandy Baltimore, Barbra Banda, Aitana Bonmatí, Lucy Bronze, Klara Bühl, Mariona Caldentey, Sofia Cantore, Steph Catley, Temwa Chawinga, Melchie Dumornay, Emily Fox, Cristiana Girelli, Esther González, Caroline Graham Hansen, Patri Guijarro, Amanda Gutiérrez, Hannah Hampton, Pernille Harder, Lindsey Horan, Chloe Kelly, Frida Maanum, Marta, Clara Mateo, Ewa Pajor, Claudia Pina, Alexia Putellas, Alessia Russo, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Caroline Weir, and Leah Williamson are in the running.

The nominees for the Men's Yashin award include Alisson Becker, Yassine Bounou, Lucas Chevalier, Thibaut Courtois, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Emiliano Martínez, Jan Oblak, David Raya, Matz Sels, and Yann Sommer. The Women's Yashin award nominees are Ann-Katrin Berger, Cata Coll, Hannah Hampton, Chiamaka Nnadozie, and Daphne van Domselaar.

The winners are determined based on individual performances throughout the entire season. Points are allocated based on the ranking assigned, with the player receiving the most points being the winner. In case of a tie, the tiebreaker criterion is the number of first-place votes received.

Since its inception, the Golden Ball has been won by some of the greatest footballers of all time. Lionel Messi holds the record for the most wins with eight titles, while Cristiano Ronaldo is second with five distinctions. Other multiple winners include Alfredo di Stefano, Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and Ronaldo Nazário. Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, and Marco van Basten each won the Golden Ball prize three times.

The Golden Ball was initially only given to European footballers, but since 2007, all footballers have become eligible for selection. From 2010 to 2015, the award was named FIFA Ballon d'Or due to FIFA's collaboration with France Football.

The nominees for the Best Men's and Women's Club awards, as well as the Socrates award, will be announced shortly. The Golden Ball Awards continue to be a highly anticipated event in the football calendar, recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements of players and teams from around the world.

Football's Prestigious Award: List of Nominees, Past Winners, and the Methodology for Selection