L’Equipe confirmed that there has been a change in the criteria for selecting the winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
France Football magazine announced that the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony will be held early, on September 22nd in Paris.
The committee responsible for selecting the Ballon d’Or has decided to remove a recently used criterion that had been influential in the voting process.
The reference here is the “career” criterion, which refers to a player’s achievements over the past years.
The committee has decided to remove this criterion, which may result in the exclusion of several players, most notably Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, from even the initial nomination list.
The primary criteria for selecting the winner will remain individual performance, decisiveness, and influence, followed by collective success and trophies won, and finally, sportsmanship and fair play.
The list of nominees is expected to be announced in August, although the initial competition is limited to Mohamed Salah, Lamine Yamal, Rafinha, and Ousmane Dembélé.
Dembélé’s chances of winning the award could increase significantly if Paris Saint-Germain wins the Champions League. Salah remains the best player numerically, and in terms of impact, Yamal was the most successful with Barcelona.
