The 2025 Ballon d’Or award ceremony will take place on September 22 in Paris with the number of awards for women and men expected to be equal for the first time since the inception of the award.
The organisers announced the latest development on Monday while confirming that the three categories of women’s awards will be added to it in September at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
Awards for best women’s goalkeeper, best young women’s player, and the top women’s scorer in a club or national team have been added to the list.
There will be six awards for male players, and six for female players, with an additional prize, the Socrates Award, for actions that promote solidarity, which is open to men or women.
The nominees will be involved in August after the FIFA World Club Cup, and the Nations League final four.
It would be recalled that last year’s edition of the award ceremony was overshadowed by Real Madrid’s decision not to attend after they found out that Rodri will emerge the winner ahead of Vinicius.
France Football are the organiser of the award, they are expected to choose 30 nominees, and the eventual winner will be announced after a round of voting by 100 journalists for the men’s category.
In the women’s category, there are 50 journalists eligible to vote. Each journalist must choose a top 10, each position of which gives points to the designated player. The player with the most points will be the winner of the Ballon d’Or.
The criteria for the 2025 edition of the award is firstly, individual performances. Secondly, the collective aspect and the trophies won. Finally, fair play.
Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with five.
