Amaury Group, owner of L’Equipe and France Football, creator of the Ballon d’Or, announced on Friday that it has signed a partnership with UEFA to jointly host the award ceremony for the most prestigious individual award “next year”.
The Ballon d’Or will be organized in cooperation with UEFA, as FIFA is a long-standing partner
Amory will remain the winner of the Ballon d’Or trophy and will continue to control the voting.
The electoral college, which consists of 100 journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking, remains unchanged.
However, UEFA will be responsible for the commercial rights to the trophy and will organize the annual ceremony together with the Amaury group, News.ro reports.
Another consequence of this partnership: location. Although the annual event has been held in Paris since 2016, after 2024 it will be possible to host the ceremony in other European countries.
“I spoke with Alexander (UEFA president Ceferin) about the possibility of doing it in other European capitals from now on.
It won’t be 2024, because we’ll be staying in Paris for this edition. But later there may be an opportunity to postpone the ceremony,” Jean-Etienne Amaury, CEO of the Amaury group, explained to L’Equipe.
Two new awards from 2024: best male and female coach
Two new awards will also be presented: the best coach among men and women, which will be added to the eight existing trophies (Men’s Golden Ball, Women’s Golden Ball, Kopa Trophy for the best young player, Yashinsky Trophy for the best goalkeeper, Müller Trophy for the best goalscorer, men’s club of the year, women’s club of the year and the Socrates award, which honors social or charitable initiatives of players).
Le groupe Amaury, owner of France Football and L’Équipe, has decided on a new partnership with UEFA starting in 2024 to organize the Ballon d’Or ceremony. https://t.co/yA4GxceGVY #ballondor pic.twitter.com/uz2hZAisP0
— L’ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) November 3, 2023
The Golden Ball was awarded for the first time in 1956, and the first winner was the Englishman Stanley Matthews.
Who has won the “Golden Ball” since 2000
2023 Lionel Messi
2022 Karim Benzema
2021 Lionel Messi
2020 – not provided
2019 Lionel Messi
2018 Luka Modrich
2017 Cristiano Ronaldo
2016 Cristiano Ronaldo
2015 Lionel Messi
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo
2013 Cristiano Ronaldo
2012 Lionel Messi
2011 Lionel Messi
2010 Lionel Messi
2009 Lionel Messi
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo
2007 Kaka
2006 Fabio Cannavaro
2005 Ronaldinho
2004 Andriy Shevchenko
2003 Pavlo Nedved
2002 Ronaldo
2001 Michael Owen
2000 Luis Figo.
Source: Hot News
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