A number of changes have been effected to the Ballon d’Or Award, with arguably the biggest change being seasonal presentation of the award rather than on a calendar year basis.
Previously, the award was presented on the basis of two half-seasons where the player was being assessed between January to June and August to December, and the award presented at the end of the year.
France Football announced that the Ballon d’Or Award will now be given to the best player based on the 2021/22 campaign.
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The 2021/22 campaign will end with the 2022 Women’s Euros. However, the 2022 World Cup will be included in the 2023 awards.
The vote will be based on performance during a season rather than a calendar year.
Chelsea legend and the Ballon d'Or ambassador, Didier Drogba, will play a critical role in helping finalise the shortlist.
For this year's award, Vietnamese journalist, Truong Anh Ngoc (The Thao & Van Hoa), will contribute to the shortlist for the Men's award while Czech Judge, Karolina Hlavackova (Ruik), will help finalise the Women's shortlist unlike the norm where the shortlisting process was drawn up by only journalists working for France Football and L'Équipe.
The 2022 Ballon d'Or ceremony will take place in October 2022 with the voting being restricted to the top 100 countries according to FIFA's rankings for the Men's award and the top 50 for the Women's award.
France Football also explained the different award criterions to be used while awarding the players.
Criterion No.1
This will focus solely on individual performance and the decisive and impressive character of the contenders.
Criterion No.2
This criterion focuses on the collective performance and the record accumulated during the season.
Criterion No.3
This criterion will focus on the players ability to set an example concentrating on their class and sense of fair play.
Criterion No.4
In these criteria a player's career will no longer be considered when voting in a way of considering the race for the Ballon d'Or as an open competition, and not as a preserve.
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