Football fans around the world are waiting very eagerly to know the winner of 2019 Ballon d’Or which will be announced on 2 December. As of now, Lionel Messi, Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo seem to be leading the race to the title. Let us have a look at how the winner is decided for football’s top honour every year.

Shortlist

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The first process is making a shortlist of 30 best footballers around the world as reflected by their performances in the calendar year. This shortlist is prepared by the editorial team at France football.

After the shortlist is prepared, a jury of sports journalists from across the globe is made, and they, in turn, are asked to give their vote to footballers already in the list. The jury is given the task to select the five best players in the world in the calendar year and they must rank these players in descending order.

There are mainly three parameters that have been set for the jury to evaluate the players on before they cast their votes. These are- (i) individual and team performances, (ii)fair play and talent, and (iii) overall evaluation of the footballer’s career.

Points

The top picks from each of these journalists are awarded six points. For the subsequent picks, four, three, two and one point is given.

Thus, the total points a player gets is calculated and the thirty players are ranked according to these points. Once the players are ranked according to these points, the top-ranked player is awarded the Ballon d’Or.

If it is a tie, the footballer who has got more number of votes in the first position is declared the winner.