Did you know? The Ballon d'Or is no different from any other award, except that it is widely regarded as the first major individual award in football. Before it, there was no known award that celebrated individual brilliance beyond local ones.

But due to recent anomalies in the results, which most times go against public opinion, the award risks losing its prestige, and even France Football must have started feeling the heat.

From boycott to defiance, the Ballon d'Or is facing challenges, and more wrong calls could dissolve its prestige, with no more affiliation to FIFA and the emergence of more private organizations’ awards.

Decline of Ballon d'Or Prestige | Boycott

Whatever happened to the Ballon d'Or aura? The days when every player nominated wanted to attend what was considered the most prestigious event in world football.

Although there is always one winner, all nominees wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, even when they knew there was no chance of winning. Some even attended with families and loved ones just to live the moment.

But year in and year out, attendance declines as nominees choose to boycott the gala, while those considered frontrunners also pay less attention once informed they are not winning.

Real Madrid stole the headlines in 2024 when it was made clear that their selected candidate would not win the award, and even though the world saw the move from Los Blancos as extreme, there is no denying that the Ballon d'Or does not command the same prestige as before.

Before Real Madrid, there had been cases where players chose not to attend, which defeats the main reason behind France Football extending the number of Ballon d'Or nominees to 30.

These days, they can only struggle to fill a 2,500-capacity venue with guests, despite the increase in the number of women players through the creation of more categories.

This year, Paris Saint-Germain, who won the men's team of the year, left their own city, where the gala was held, for Marseille to play a league game that was postponed due to expected heavy storms, rainfall, and flood risks on the previous day.

Players like Vitinha, Achraf Hakimi, and Nuno Mendes, who made the top ten, were playing in the match during the Ballon d'Or gala, and their manager, Luis Enrique, who was named men's coach of the year, was also absent.

Decline of Ballon d'Or Prestige | Defiance

As though boycotting was not enough trouble for the organizers, another challenge, defiance, has begun to haunt them in their own venue. Which is surprising considering the gala is supposed to be a formal setting, comprising only guests.

When it came down to the announcement of the winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2024, the crowd in the venue shouted the name of Vinicius Jr. as the deserved winner of the award, but Rodri was announced as the winner, much to the dismay of the majority.

This year, Ousmane Dembele was the name chanted by the crowd before he was announced, and even if the result was a delight for the crowd, it sends a bigger message: that the Ballon d'Or is in a delicate state.

More wrong calls and more clubs and organizations may start opting out, and after all, it was credibility that made it stand out among all individual honours. Now that it has separated from The Best FIFA Football Awards, it risks being overtaken by awards from other private organizations.

And while France Football is using attendants from the women’s section to cover for the growing shortage of numbers for the men’s, more worries loom as even that department is deemed to be more controversial.

The fact that English women have again been overlooked for Aitana Bonmatí’s three-peat despite losing the only two major tournaments in which they participated to English players is a highlight for critics, while Mariona Caldentey is also considered another overlooked, deserving player.

To crown a difficult moment, the highlight of her season, shown at the gala, was losing the final of two major tournaments to the same players who finished runner-up to her in the award, including her missed penalty in the Women's Euros final.

It is a tough take for even France Football, as it was always going to come down to this, as the world evolves with growing media influence, opinions, and criticism are bound to gain wider and wilder publicity.

What Next For Ballon d'Or

Like Johan Cruyff once said, the Ballon d’Or is “a bunch of journalists and people voting for their friends.” This statement is proving to be spot on in every edition, and maybe it is time France Football considers a change of approach.

Maybe a change of approach will do well, because it is becoming fairer to just pick a deserved winner than the product from the selected jury.

Take, for instance, Raphinha was widely regarded as one of the frontrunners for the 2025 Ballon d'Or as he had an outstanding season, almost better than anyone, and maybe only behind Ousmane Dembele due to the Champions League title for the Frenchman.

Yet, a selected Ballon d'Or jury voted from first to tenth place, and didn't include the Brazilian in their picks. Even though it is understandable that people have the right to their choices, that is not fair play, and surely leaves doubts over the credibility of the award.

In 2025, Michael Olise, one of the best players in the world, ranked 30th despite turning up in the Bundesliga, Champions League, and Club World Cup, and Raphinha, many thought could have won it, ended fifth.

Even though he shares the same club as second-place Lamine Yamal, juries are supposed to vote for the best, not turn it into politics and give their votes to a candidate, because they are the ones the club is pushing for the award.

A stitch in time saves nine, and maybe the Ballon d'Or could revive its prestige, or it'll be overtaken by other awards, many of which are now viewed as more transparent than the France Football Ballon d'Or.