The Fifa Ballon D'or

The fifa Ballon d'or is an association soccer award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous year. It is awarded based on votes by coaches and captains of international teams, as well as journalists from around the world.

It was an annual association soccer award. It was presented to the player who had been voted to have performed the best over the previous year. The award was founded by France soccer's chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, who asked his colleagues to vote for the player of the year in Europe in 1956. The opening winner was Stanley Matthews of Blackpool.

Originally, journalists could only vote for European players at European clubs, meaning that players like Diego Maradona and Pele were ineligible for the award. A change in the rules in 1995 allowed non-European players to be eligible for the award if they played for a European club. The first non-European to win after the rule change was Milan's George Weah in the same year. The award started in 2010 after France soccer's Ballon d'Or and the men's FIFA World Player of the Year award were merged. The winner of the opening 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or was Lionel Messi who then went on to reclaim the title the following two years. After the merger, the FIFA World Player of the Year award became a women-only award.