#83 All about that Ballon d'Or! What is it, how did it come to exist, who are some lesser known winners, and does it matter all that much?
Soccer 101
TSS
4.9 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
On this episode of Soccer 101, Graham, Joe, Ryan and Taylor get into a timely topic: The Ballon d'Or! We attempt to explain the following:
1) What is the Ballon d'Or and what's the history behind it?
2) How is it awarded?
3) The best and least known winners
4) Controversies surrounding its awarding
5) Should anyone actually care that much about it?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Soccer 101, the podcast where we dig into the soccer questions you never knew you had. |
| 0:16.7 | Today, we're talking about the biggest prize in all of soccer. If you don't include all the big prizes, the soccer teams win, the ballandeur. What is the ballandor? How is it awarded? When did it come to prominence? And why do he care or not care about it? My name is Ryan Bailey. Joining me today, we have our golden ball, Taylor Rockwell. Hello, buddy, thank you for that. |
| 0:38.9 | Hello, we have our golden brain, Graham Rutherman. |
| 0:42.6 | Hello, Ryan. |
| 0:43.8 | And we have our golden boy, Joe Lowry. |
| 0:46.1 | Hello, Joe. |
| 0:47.1 | Hey, Ryan. |
| 0:48.9 | Yeah, as I mentioned, gents, we're going to be talking all about the ballondole, |
| 0:52.3 | which translates literally as golden ball. |
| 0:55.9 | It is literally an award statue that is a golden ball. |
| 0:59.5 | Graham, tell us a little more about the Ballondor and what exactly it is, please. |
| 1:04.7 | Yeah, so the Ballondor is an annual award handed out by France football, which is a French soccer magazine. And it's |
| 1:13.2 | awarded to the best player in men's soccer in the case of the Ballandor and in the case |
| 1:19.8 | of the women's ballander and women's soccer, the best player for that year. And the women's |
| 1:26.1 | ballandor was first awarded in 2018. And the women's Ballandor was first awarded in 2018. And the Ballandor for the men's game |
| 1:33.0 | dates all the way back to 1956. And there's a bit of confidence when it comes to the Ballondor, |
| 1:39.4 | Graham, and the FIFA World Player of the Year and there's been some divisions over who presides |
| 1:43.7 | over which award, right? |
| 1:46.7 | Yeah, that's right. So from 1956 to 2010, I believe, the Ballandor was handed out by France football, |
| 1:57.1 | as I say, that French soccer magazine. Then from 2010 to 2015, the award was |
| 2:04.1 | merged with the FIFA Best Player in the World Award. It became the FIFA Ballandor for that |
| 2:11.6 | period. And then in 2016, it reverted back to being purely France Football's award. and FIFA rebranded their awards and they created the best awards and they have a best men's player of the year and a best women's player of the year and a whole load of other awards that are related to that to that ceremony and to that awards structure. So yeah, they have kind of merged and uncoupled at certain times over history. |
... |
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