Women’s Ballon d’Or launched by France Football

"More than 760m TV viewers watched games at the last women's World Cup in 2015. This did not happen by chance." Fifteen nominees for the women's award will be shortlisted on October 8th, and the winner will be chosen by a panel of journalists specialising in the women's game. "The jury won't be the same as the jury voting for the men. Only experts can vote," Ferre explained. "I'm confident we will get a jury of about 40 journalists, from countries where women's soccer is growing." FIFA used to merge brainpower with France Football to give out the Ballon d'Or, but football's global governing body have recently split away and decided to hold their own award ceremony, 'The Best', at which they hand out an award to the player they deem to have had the best season, as opposed to the best calendar year. FIFA already have a women's award, which Lieke Martens, the Barcelona and Netherlands midfielder, won in 2017. France Football are also launching an award to recognise the world's best young player of the year, which will be named after Raymond Kopa - the first French Ballon d'Or winner who passed away last year. A shortlist of 10 U21 players will be compiled, and a panel of former Ballon d'Or winners will decide the winner.