Ahead of the crowning of the men's and Women's 2024 Ballon d'Or winners on Monday evening, we take a look at how the voting system for the most prestigious individual honour in football works.
The winners of the Men's and Women's Ballon d'Or are determined by votes from 100 of the sport's most influential and respected journalists, with the latest recipients to be announced on Monday 28th October, 2024, at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet.
A journalist from each of FIFA's top 100 ranked member nations will select their top ten picks from the 30-player (50 for women) shortlist, with each of their selections gaining a different points value / number of votes.
For example, a player who is selected as the number one choice by a specific journalist will receive the highest number of points allowed (15), with that number decreasing down to the 10th selection, who will claim one point.
Voting covers players' performances across a full season with the 2024 Ballon d'Or winners being the best two players from August 2023 through to August 2024.
The Men's and Women's players who accumulate the highest number of points from all 100 journalists votes will be crowned Ballon d'Or winners.
As per UEFA, voting for the prestigious Ballon d'Or is based upon three main criteria:
In the rare situation that there is a tie for first place in Ballon d'Or voting, players are separated by the number of first-place votes.
If the tie remains, they will then be separated by the number of second-placed votes, then by the number of third-placed votes and so on.
Any dispute arising from voting for the award will be decided by the editor-in-chief of France Football, who is the organiser.
A total of nine awards will be handed out at the 2024 ceremony: