A brief history of the Ballon d’Or, the prestigious football awards event

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Hot air balloon d‘Or it is a prestigious awards event organized every year by the French media France Football. This award was first awarded in 1956 and is intended to appreciate the best footballers in the world.

In the 2025 edition, the Ballon d’Or is awarded to players who have distinguished themselves throughout the 2024-2025 season. This long-awaited moment finally took place on Monday (9/22), local time, or Tuesday (9/23) at 01:00 WIB in the morning at the Theater du Chatelet in Paris, France.

The Ballon d’Or was first awarded by a French football journalist, named Gabriel Hanot. In addition to being the creator of the Ballon d’Or, Hanot is also known as the creator of the European Champions League. For more details, here is a brief historical review of the Ballon d’Or.

The history of the Ballon d’Or can be divided into several points based on regulatory changes, namely:

Read also: Aitana Bonmati wins the 2025 women’s Ballon d’Or

1. First period (1956-1994)

Initially, the idea of awarding the Ballon d’Or was only to appreciate players from Europe. Therefore, players from other continents, such as Maradona, cannot be nominated for the Ballon d’Or, even if they play in Europe.

The evaluation was carried out using a voting system by sports journalists who were also Hanot’s colleagues. The first footballer to receive the Ballon d’Or was Stanley Matthews, an Englishman who played for the Blackpool football club.

2. Second period (1995-2006)

During this time, rule changes were made to determine which players could be nominated. While initially the nominations could only be filled with names of European players, starting from 1995 non-European players could also be included in the nominations.

The winner is still determined in the same way as before, i.e vote by sports journalists. The first non-European player to win the Ballon d’Or was George Weah in 1995. At that time, Weah was playing for AC Milan.

3. Third period (2007-2009)

The rules, changed in the second period, are changed again since 2007. Where all footballers from various parts of the world can win the Ballon d’Or. However, nominations for potential winners are still dominated by European players.

In 2007, the rules for determining the winner were changed so that it was no longer journalists who voted, but rather the team captain or coach of a country that belonged to or was a member of FIFA.

Read also: Ballon d’Or winners from time to time, most recently Ousmane Dembele 2025

4. The fourth period or the period in which FIFA took over (2010-2016)

In 2010, FIFA retired the Ballon d’Or and merged it with the FIFA World Player of the Year. Then the official name changed to FIFA Ballon d’Or.

However, all this came to an end in 2016, when FIFA decided to withdraw and create its own awards event under the name The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year.

In history, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are listed as the footballers who have won the most Ballon d’Ors.

Messi managed to win this award seven times, namely in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021. Ronaldo received the Ballon d’Or five times, namely in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Read also: Donnarumma wins the 2025 Yashin Trophy, equals Emiliano Martinez’s feat

List of Ballon d’Or 2025 winners in all nomination categories

It is known that in awarding the Ballon d’Or 2025 awards are not only awarded for the main categories, but several other types of award categories are also awarded. Below are the 13 award categories awarded at the time of the 2025 Ballon d’Or and the winners.

1. Ballon d’Or Male (best male player), this category is the main award of the Ballon d’Or 2025. There are 30 names of the best players in the world included in this nomination. This category was won by Ousmane Dembele (PSG).

2. The women’s Ballon d’Or (best player), out of 30 names of great players, this category was won by Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona). Keep in mind that each category, whether male or female, is always filled with the same number of names. This marks equality between the male and female awards at the 2025 Ballon d’Or.

3. The Men’s Kopa Trophy (best young male player), this award is awarded to the youngest male player under 21 years of age. This nomination consists of the 10 youngest players from various teams and the winner is Lamine Yamal (Barcelona).

4. The Kopa Female Trophy (best young player), composed of the names of the 10 youngest players, this category will also award prizes to talented young players. This category was won by the Barcelona football team, namely Vicky Lopez.

Read also: Complete list of rankings and winners of the 2025 Ballon d’Or

5. Male Yashin Trophy (best male goalkeeper), the nomination consists of 10 names of male goalkeepers. This category was won by Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG).

6. Female Yashin Trophy (best female goalkeeper), just like the male goalkeeper, this nomination also included 10 names of female goalkeepers and was won by Hannah Hampton (Chelsea).

7. Men’s Gerd Muller Trophy (club/country men’s top scorer), this category was won by Viktor Gyokeres of the Arsenal football club.

8. Women’s Gerd Muller Trophy (club/national top scorer), won by Ewa Pajor (Barcelona).

9. Men’s Johan Cruyff Trophy (best male coach of a club/national team), there are 5 names of male coaches nominated in this category. The winner is Luis Enrique (PSG).

10. The Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy (best female coach of a club/national team), this award is given to female coaches who have outstanding performances, both in the national team and in professional clubs. There were 5 names of female coaches included in this nomination and it was won by Sarina Wiegman, an England national team player.

11. Men’s Club of the Year Trophy (best men’s football club), this category has 5 nominations from big European clubs and the winner of this category is Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Please note that this category is judged on the performance of players and their teams.

12. Women’s Club of the Year Trophy (best women’s football club). Of the 5 teams included in this nomination, Arsenal was the winner.

13. Socrates Award, this category is awarded to footballers who have had an extraordinary humanitarian or social impact on the pitch. This category was won by Fundacion Xana.

This is an insight into the history of the prestigious Ballon d’Or awards event, accompanied by information on the making and winners of the 2025 edition. This year’s Ballon d’Or winners were determined through a voting system (vote) involving selected sports journalists. These journalists come from countries included in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings.

Read also: PSG manager Luis Enrique wins the 2025 Johan Cruyff Trophy

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