The Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris will once again host the 2023 Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday, October 30, France Football announced on Friday. The winners will be included in the list of nominees, which will be announced on September 6, and will include the top 30 players and 20 best players of the year. Karim Benzema, who has just signed for Al-Ittihad, Saudi Arabia, where he just presented his Ballon d'Or, should see another player lift the trophy. FC Barcelona player Alexia Putellas, who has just won the Champions League, will be a candidate for her own succession.
🌕✨ Save the date for a special night...
📍 Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris#ballondor pic.twitter.com/adJBxSohwx
— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) June 9, 2023
Since last year, the trophy now rewards the best players over a season and no longer over a calendar year as was the case before. The award criteria have also been revised. "Individual performances" and the "decisive and impressive character of the contenders" are now the number 1 criterion, ahead of "the collective aspect and the trophies won" and "the class of the player and his sense of fair play". The jury also evolved, from 170 journalists voting to 100 voters, from the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings, and 50 voters for the women's Ballon d'Or.
This ceremony will be an opportunity to reward the best player under 21 of the season through the Kopa Trophy, the best goalkeeper through the Yachine Trophy as well as to award the Socrates Prize, reserved for footballers involved in social and charitable projects.
