The Amaury Group, owner of L’Équipe and France Football, creator of the Ballon d’Or, announced on Friday the signing of a partnership with the European Football Union (UEFA) to jointly organize the most prestigious award ceremony. football award from next year.
The Amaury Group will remain the owner of the Ballon d’Or trophy and will continue to oversee the voting. The voting panel of 100 journalists from FIFA’s top 100 nations remains unchanged. However, UEFA will take care of the commercial rights to the trophy. There will also be two new awards: Best Men’s and Women’s Coach, which will be added to the eight existing trophies (Men’s Ballon d’Or, Women’s Ballon d’Or, Kopa Trophy for Best Young Player, Yachine Trophy for Best Goalkeeper, Gerd Müller Trophy for Best Goal winners, Men’s Club of the Year, Women’s Club of the Year and the Socrates Award, which honors players’ social or charitable initiatives).
“We are very happy about this cooperation. It is a trophy created by France Football in 1956, the same year as the European Cup, so there is a shared history between UEFA and the Ballon d’Or.“, said Jean-Etienne Amaury, General Manager of the Amaury Group.It is a meeting of two of the best football brands. On the one hand, “THE” football trophy is the Ballon d’Or, on the other hand, UEFA is the best competition in the world.“, explained UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin, referring to the Champions League.
Established in 1956, the Ballon d’Or first crowned the best player in Europe and then awarded the best player in the world in 2007. Its format has also evolved, as from 2022 it takes into account performances during a sports season rather than over a calendar year.
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