As the 2023 Ballon d’Or award ceremony approaches, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland are in close contention as frontrunners for the greatest individual honor in soccer, with Messi widely touted as the favorite to win it. But it’s time to set the record straight about FIFA and the Ballon d’Or, their short stint as a joint award, and the difference between the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d’Or.

The Ballon d’Or was founded by the French magazine France Football in 1956 when England legend Sir Stanley Matthews picked up the award edging Alfredo Di Stefano in the voting, and has been running every year ever since. In the years since its inception, the Ballon d’Or has garnered widespread fandom and a cult following as the pinnacle and most distinguished individual honor in the sport of soccer. On the other hand, the FIFA World Player of the Year award was initiated only in 1991 with Lothar Matthaus, who captained Germany to World Cup victory at Italia 1990, winning the first edition of the award instated by FIFA.

While it may seem a bit confusing, both awards run separately in today’s times. Still, they ran together as a joint award for a brief period between 2010 and 2016 as the FIFA Ballon d’Or after a 6-year partnership between both organizations.

Why FIFA and the Ballon d’Or decided to end their 6-year stint as a joint award

Both FIFA and France Football entered into a partnership in 2010 to jointly host the award ceremony, calling it the FIFA Ballon d’Or. This came into fruition after 5 years between 2005 to 2010 when both awards, the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d’Or were separate but were awarded to the same player who was adjudged to be the winner.

However, in 2010, FIFA decided to enter into an agreement with France Football to add the FIFA tag to the Ballon d’Or and run the award jointly. The move was mooted by then FIFA president Sepp Blatter and was announced during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. However, the move stirred some controversy as several prominent journalists suggested that the decision was made by FIFA to cash in on the popularity of the Ballon d’Or which had been running since the 1950s.

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After the award became the FIFA Ballon d’Or there were significant disagreements between FIFA and France Football regarding the format, the rules and regulations, and perhaps more tellingly, the financial side of things, including sponsorships and governing matters. This eventually led to FIFA pulling the plug on jointly hosting the award in September 2016.

This further led to France Football changing the Ballon d’Or voting format from players, and coaches to only renowned journalists which still holds good today as of 2023. As per the current rules, the voting is made by 100 journalists from FIFA’s 100 top-ranked nations.

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Furthermore, this move was made to assert that journalists would have a more comprehensive viewpoint on global soccer and its cultural impact on contemporary society all over the globe. France Football also increased the nomination list from 24 to 30, which again still remains as of today.

The FIFA Ballon d’Or was only won by Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi over the 6 year period

Since the inception of the joint award as the FIFA Ballon d’Or through its short 6-year timespan, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi dominated the voting and eventually won the prestigious award during those years.

Messi would win the FIFA Ballon d’Or thrice in a row in the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. There was perhaps a bit of controversy surrounding Messi winning the award in 2010 as Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez came in 2nd and 3rd in the voting respectively despite guiding Spain to World Cup glory in South Africa with Iniesta even scoring in the final. However, Messi won the inaugural award in 2010 with a narrow margin of about 5% after receiving 22.65% of the total votes as compared to Iniesta’s 17.36%.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d’Or twice in 2013 and 2014, shortly after Messi’s 3-year streak. Ronaldo received the award two years in a row in 2013 and 2014 for his admirable performances, most notably guiding Real Madrid to their fabled La Decima title i.e. their 10th Champions League trophy win in the club’s illustrious history in 2013-14 under Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti, as the Portuguese icon scored 51 goals across all competitions.

Messi would then win the final FIFA Ballon d’Or award in 2015 after lifting the treble with Barcelona in 2014-15 under Luis Enrique, which was his second treble win for his boyhood club after achieving the feat under Pep Guardiola in 2008-09. The joint award was then scrapped in the next immediate year in 2016.

In totality, Lionel Messi won 4 FIFA Ballon d’Ors while Cristiano Ronaldo won 2. While both awards are now separate again, Messi remains the favorite to pick up the Ballon d’Or this year after captaining Argentina to a World Cup triumph by winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup trophy in Qatar, a feat that has cemented his status as one of the game’s greatest ever players. Nevertheless, it seems as though both awards will continue to run separately as they have been since 2016.

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