2024 Ballon d’Or award may take a slight difference from the regular as UEFA announce partnership with the award organizers – Amaury Group
In a press statement by UEFA, the apex football governing body in Europe revealed their decision to partner with Amaury Group as marketing and commercial stakeholders.
The two parties have reached agreement on terms of contract with some changes expected on how the award will be organized on the next edition in 2024.
As part of the agreement, Amaury Group have obliged to introduce two more categories to the award – Best Men’s Coach and Best Women’s Coach of the year to honor top performing club and national team managers.
The introduction of the two new categories will take the total categories of the award from 8 to 10. The current Ballon d’Or award categories honours best men’s players, best women’s players, best young players, best goalkeepers, best strikers, social advocacy, best clubs, and best national teams.
Now, club and national team coaches will also be on the radar in both men and women football with the most performing managers earning their due global recognition.
The latest changes reflect the gradual evolution of the Ballon d’Or with more changes expected in the nearest future. Apart from the men’s and women’s coaches category, other newest category that have been recently included in the award is the Socrates and Herd Muller Award for activist footballers and best strikers, respectively.
With UEFA stepping into the reins, football fans will be expecting a more robust Ballon d’Or from next year. UEFA have taken the role of organizing the gala event as part of the terms of partnership but the voting and decision system will still retain its current format with nominees’ with highest votes winning the crown.
Lionel Messi is the winner of 2023 Men’s Ballon d’Or while Aitana Bonmati is the holder of the Women’s award.
