Who really decides the Ballon d'Or winners: how each award's voting works

The Ballon d'Or awards use different voting systems: the main prize is decided by 100 specialist journalists, while the Kopa Trophy uses former winners, and the Gerd Müller award is based on goals scored.

Not all Ballon d'Or awards presented tonight in London use the same voting system. The main men's Ballon d'Or is decided by 100 journalists, one from each of the top 100 countries in FIFA's ranking, while the women's award uses 50 journalists from the top 50 nations. These same two juries select winners of the Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper), Johan Cruyff Trophy (best coach), and Club of the Year awards, with the men's jury deciding men's categories and the women's jury deciding women's categories.

The Young Talent of the Year trophies use a different process. In the men's category, former Ballon d'Or winners vote. In the women's category, a special jury includes former Ballon d'Or winners and players who have finished on the women's podium since 2018, plus a France Football editor. The Gerd Müller trophies, which recognize top scorers, are not voted on but determined by goals scored during the reference period. The Socrates Prize, for social commitment, is decided by a committee linked to France Football, L'Équipe and Peace and Sport.

For the main Ballon d'Or, each journalist selects ten candidates and assigns points of 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in order of preference, with the highest total winning.