Lewandowski lived up to expectations and finally won the honor of World Footballer of the Year. Many fans may think of the Ballon d'Or award that football owes to Levan. In 2020, if it were not for the cancellation of the selection due to the big environmental impact, Levan would now be the double winner of the World Footballer of the Year + Ballon d'Or Awards!
So what is the difference between the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or? Both awards have been hailed as the most gold-laden individual awards in football today, but if broken down, there are at least 3 big differences.
1. History is different
The full name of Mr. World Footballer of the Year is "FIFA World Footballer of the Year", and its predecessor is the "World's Best Player" awards jointly organized by FIFA and the International Federation of Statistics on the History of Football, which was founded in 1982. In 1991 FIFA began operating the award independently, which was also renamed "World Footballer of the Year".
Generally speaking, the "World Footballer of the Year" refers to the awards after the restructuring in 1991.
The Golden Globes have a much longer history, having been voted for since 1956, and until today, they have only been cancelled in 2020.
2. The scope of the organizer and the selection is different
As mentioned above, since 1991, the World Footballer of the Year has been independently operated by FIFA, and the Golden Ball Awards have been operated by the French football magazine "Team Newspaper". Compared to the latter, it is clear that FIFA (pronounced fei fa, softly) is more authoritative and more impartial.
Whether it was the "World's Best Player" in 1986 or the "World Footballer of the Year" in 1991, the scope of the selection was initially focused on the world. Although European players have the largest number of awards, followed by South American players, and so far no other players have won awards, it is fair to say that it is true that the two places have a higher level of players and deserve the award.
Between 1956 and 1994, the Ballon d'Or awards were awarded only to European players, and in 1995 the scope of the award was extended to all players who played in the leagues of UEFA member states, and only in 2007 was opened to all professional players in all leagues in the world. So before 2007, the Ballon d'Or was also known as the "European Footballer of the Year".
Compared with the Ballon d'Or, the Selection of world footballers is larger, but the Golden Globes have since been broadened to a worldwide scale, and both are currently world-class awards.
3. The selection rules are different
The rules for the Selection of World Footballer of the Year have undergone 3 changes. At the beginning of its creation in 1991, it was voted by the head coach of the national team of fifa members, each coach had 3 votes, but could not vote for the players of his own national team.
The famous Chinese striker Gong Lei played in the Tahiti League in 1990, winning 8 league and cup championships in 7 years, and in 1993 Gong Lei scored 36 goals in the Tahiti League, and was voted by the head coach of the Tahiti national team, becoming the only player in the history of Chinese football to be nominated by The World Footballer of the Year.
In 2004, the rules for the selection of World Footballer of the Year changed, with individual national teams and captains having the right to vote, enjoying 80 per cent of the vote, with the remaining 20 per cent in the hands of the International Professional Players' Union.
In 2016, coaches and captains of national teams had only 25% of the votes left, adding up to 50%, more than 200 media outlets around the world had 25% of the votes, and the remaining 25% belonged to fans around the world.
Although the rules of the Golden Globe Awards have changed several times, they are always in the hands of the media.
Before 2007, only the judges invited by the organizers of French Football had votes, and almost all the judges came from major European media. After 2007, it was changed that all countries that reached the World Cup finals had the right to vote, but the judges were still composed of journalists. At the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, the organizers invited journalists from more than 180 countries and regions to participate in the voting.
But no matter how it is reformed, the voting power of the Golden Globes is always in the hands of journalists, in other words, the Golden Globes are an award selected by the media.
In fact, the Ballon d'Or and the World Footballer of the Year have also been briefly merged, between 2010 and 2015, the two sides have cooperated to hold 6 competitions, of which Messi has won 4 times and C Ronaldo has won 2 awards. However, due to the differences in operating philosophy and selection rules, the two sides eventually differed from each other.
So which of the World Footballer of the Year or the Ballon d'Or is more gold??
At present, fans generally believe that the world footballer of the year should be more authoritative. Because this award is a professional coach, professional player, media, fans from all over the world, including this year's winner Levan, he also has 3 votes. The opinions of all the people were combined to give birth to the World Footballer of the Year.
In the end, the Ballon d'Or is the media holding its own awards behind closed doors, which may ignore the opinions of professional players and countless fans.
Of course, both the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or are the highest honors in football. It's amazing to get one at random!