On March 12, It was reported that French Football announced that there had been a major change in the rules of the Ballon d'Or awards. At the same time, the judging period was changed from natural years to seasons.
French media RMC said that this is because Messi won the Ballon d'Or in 2021 caused a huge controversy, and many people believe that the biggest problem with Messi winning the award is that his previous career was taken into account, which is unfair to the players who performed in the season, so "French Football" made changes after careful consideration.
RMC said that only by improving the level of the judges and making it clear that the selection will first consider the individual performance of the players, and no longer consider the rules of the player's career, can this award be more standard, and the most important thing is to reflect the performance of the players throughout the season, rather than relying on nostalgia to evaluate the award.
The number of judges after the reform has been reduced than before, because journalists from almost all countries have the right to vote, but this time it has been greatly reduced, reducing the number of representatives of small football countries, because it may be considered that they are more of a cult of personality than the football itself. That's why representatives of FIFA's top 100 countries and regions are eligible to vote.
The implications of this reform are far-reaching, and players who have a full season without scoring goals, without major individual honors, without team trophies, may not appear again.