Ballon d’Or vs The Best FIFA Men’s Player- Which one is more prestigious?

There is one constant discussion among football or Soccer fans at any time of the year and that is Who is the Best Player In the World. After every trophy win one set of fans go after another claiming Their Player is the Best.

There are two trophies up for grabs for the best player in the World at the end of each Year, But, the most commonly used trophy when describing such an award is Ballon d’Or.

Here we want to discuss things like presenting agency, City these awards are presented at, Number of people who shortlist these people and Much more but at first let’s see the history of these trophies.

Ballon d’Or

Ballon d’Or is presented by prestigious French Magazine France Football. It has been in existence since 1956, But initially, it was awarded to Players who are born in Europe, In 1995, it was expanded to include all the players who were playing for European Clubs. Subsequently, in 2007 it was expanded to include all the players in the World.

Later however FIFA awarded alternative players who were not considered when the award was presented because of not meeting Eligibility criteria.

Ballon d’Or means “Golden Ball” it is based on trophy which is presented to the winner.

The award is active ever since 1956 except for 2010-2015 when it was merged with FIFA. Read FIFA Ballon d’Or section for more details

The Best FIFA Men’s Player (FIFA World Player of the Year)

FIFA started awarding FIFA World Player of the Year since 1991 and is currently awarding the same in the Name of The Best FIFA Men’s Player. It was also active since 1991 except in 2010-15 when it was merged with Ballon d’Or.

FIFA Ballon d’Or

From 2010 to 2015 both FIFA and French Football agreed to merge Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year to create FIFA Ballon d’Or since both had the same reason for existence, awarding Best player in the World.

Since 2005 both winners of all the above-mentioned award winners are the same.

For the Period of merger which was 6-Years FIFA paid a reported £13million to French Football.

Splitting Up of two Awards

Due to the increased pressure from Media Outlets across Europe over incensed importance that was being given to French football. FIFA decided not to renew the deal with French Football which meant the Ballon d’Or lost its ‘FIFA’ tag and Reverted back to its original name Ballon d’Or.

FIFA Ballon d’Or was Presented in Zurich, Switzerland, which is also considered by many as a reason for Awards downfall. Subsequently, The Best FIFA Men’s Player award was created by FIFA.

Both organizations said they would consider the six joint winners as the continuation of their respective Awards.

The key differences

Difference	Ballon d’Or	The Best FIFA Men’s Player
Presented By	French Football- A famous European Weekly football Magazine	FIFA -The World football Governing Body
In Existence Since	1956	1991
Shortlisting System	Shortlisted by French Football	By a panel of experts in men’s football representing different FIFA and external football stakeholders
Number of players Shortlisted	30	10
Voting Measuring System	Points	Percentage
Voted by	International Journalists	Journalists – 25% Country Captains- 25% Country Coaches – 25% Fans -25% Journalists, Captains, Coaches – 209 for each representing each nation in FIFA
Hosted By	Paris, France	Countries around World(2019 – Milan)
Time of presentation	Decided by French Football But usually in December	Decided by FIFA. This year- 23 September

Summary

Being the oldest award Ballon d’Or is considered the greatest award an individual footballer can achieve in a year. In addition to that Ballon d’Or is the most talked about award among both.

But, unlike Ballon D’or where shortlisted players are voted by Journalists on a ballot where they can choose 5 options and players named on the top receives 6 points followed by 4 in second, 3,2,1 points for the remaining positions.

The Best FIFA Player takes into consideration the votes of Fans, Managers, Players, and Journalists. Which makes the award more inclusive.

List of Winners Since 2008

From 2005, the winners of Ballon d’Or and The Best FIFA Men’s Player award were the same here is the list of players

Year	Winner
2005	Ronaldinho
2006	Fabio Cannavaro
2007	Kaká
2008	Cristiano Ronaldo
2009	Lionel Messi
2010	Lionel Messi
2011	Lionel Messi
2012	Lionel Messi
2013	Cristiano Ronaldo
2014	Cristiano Ronaldo
2015	Lionel Messi
2016	Cristiano Ronaldo
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo
2018	Luka Modrić

Useful Links

If you want more details about The Best FIFA Men’s Player press here

If want to Vote in The Best FIFA Men’s Player click here

For more details about Ballon d’Or click here