The oldest Footballer of the Year award that UK quizzers need to be aware of is the one voted for by members of the (British) Football Writers' Association (FWA), which was first presented in 1948 and is for the player judged to have been the best in English football each season. The first winner was Stanley Matthews; the second was Johnny Carey, of Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland. The winners for each of the next 31 years were either English or Scottish, with one exception: Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper and former prisoner of war, who played over 500 games for Manchester City (but never won a full international cap) won it in 1956 – the year he sustained a broken neck while playing in the FA Cup final.
The second overseas player to receive the FWA award was Frans Thijssen, of Ipswich Town and the Netherlands, in 1981; the third was Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham Hotspur and Germany) in 1995. Since then (up to and including 2024), the number of awards by country are as follows: England 9, France 7, Portugal 3, Egypt 2, Netherlands 2; Wales, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Uruguay, Belgium and Norway one each.
The Ballon d'Or (French for 'Golden Ball') was inaugurated in 1956 by the French magazine France Football to honour the European player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. It was widely known for some time as the European Footballer of the Year award.
The first winner of the Ballon d'Or was (once again) Stanley Matthews. Three other English players have won it since: Kevin Keegan (twice), Bobby Charlton, and Michael Owen. The only other player from Great Britain and Ireland to have won it is George Best.
In 1995, eligibility for the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players, of any origin, that had been active at European clubs.
Meanwhile, in 1991, FIFA had established its own FIFA World Player of the Year award. In 2001 it inaugurated a separate award for women, known as the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.
The Ballon d'Or became a global award in 2007, when all professional male footballers from around the world became eligible. Three years later, in 2010, it was merged with the FIFA World (Men's) Player of the Year award, becoming known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or. This arrangement lasted only six years, before FIFA reverted to presenting its own award, which was known as the Best FIFA Men's Player. At the same time, the Women's World Player of the Year award was renamed (you guessed it) the Best FIFA Women's Player.
The Ballon d'Or has always been voted for by football journalists – except between 2007 and 2022, when coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote. Since 2022, only one journalist from each country in the top 100 of the FIFA Men's World Ranking has had a vote.
Voting for the Best FIFA Player awards is split equally between four groups: media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains, and the general public.
© Haydn Thompson 2024