Every year France Football puts on a ceremony called the Ballon d’Or, or the Golden Boot, to honor men's and women’s soccer for the year. The yearly ceremony is hitting its 68th year and will be recognizing the best footballers in the world from 2023 to 2024.
The nominees were announced on September 4th, 2024. They have added two new awards to the ceremony, Men's Coach of the Year and Women’s Coach of the Year. The list of awards includes Ballon d’Or, Ballon d’Or Feminin, Kopa Trophy, Yashin Trophy, Gerd Muller Trophy, Socrates Award, Men’s Club of the Year, and Women’s Club of the Year.
Thirty players are nominated for the Ballon d’Or, for both men's and women’s games. Some notable names include Jude Bellingham of England, Kylian Mbappe from France, Rodri from Spain, and Vinicius Junior from Brazil.
On the women’s side, you will see nominations for Barbara Banda from Zambia, Lucy Bronze from England, Alyssa Naeher from the USA, and Khadija Shaw from Jamaica. The award is voted on by 100 journalists.
The Kopa Trophy is for the best player in the world who is under twenty-one. This year only ten players were nominated. This is a men’s only award.
The Yashin Trophy is for the best goalkeeper. However, it is also a men’s only award. This is one point of contention for many fans because there is no way for women goalkeepers to be acknowledged for their hard work.
The Gerd Muller Trophy recognizes the top goal scorer for a full season in a European club, taking into account goals for their club as well as national teams. This award does not have a voting aspect and is given to the highest goal scorer amongst all top professional leagues and national teams.
The key part of this award is that it is for representation in a European club, which eliminates National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) players as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in the Saudi Pro League.
The Socrates Award is for the best humanitarian work done by a footballer worldwide. The award was introduced in the 2022 season and currently only has two winners.
Here is a breakdown of some of the nominees.
Five clubs each are nominated for respective Men’s Club of the Year and Women’s Club of the Year.
For the Men’s Club of the Year, we have the following:
For the Women’s Club of the Year, we have the following:
- Barcelona
- Chelsea
- Lyon
- NJ/NY Gotham
- Paris Saint-Germain
Six coaches are nominated for their respective Men’s Coach of the Year and Women’s Coach of the Year.
For Men’s Coach of the Year, we have the following nominees:
- Xabi Alonso, coach of Bayer Leverkusen
- Carlos Ancelotti, coach of Real Madrid
- Luis de la Fuente, coach of Spain Men’s national football team
- Gian Piero Gasperini, coach of Atalanta
- Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City
- Lionel Scaloni, coach of Argentina Men’s national football team
For Women’s Coach of the Year, we have the following nominees:
- Sonia Bompastor, coach of Lyon
- Arthur Elias, coach of Corinthians and Brazil Women’s national football team
- Jonatan Giraldez, coach of Barcelona (and now coach of NWSL Washington Spirit)
- Emma Hayes, coach of Chelsea and the United States Women’s national football team
- Filipa Patao, coach of Benfica
- Sarina Wiegman, coach of England Women’s national football team
The ceremony took place on October 28th, 2024, in Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet.
Kopa Trophy Winner
The Kopa trophy winner is Lamine Yamal. He is 17 years old and has broken several records, including being the youngest awardee of the Kopa trophy. He is the third Barca player to win the trophy. He is also the first winner of the Kopa trophy who is under 18.
Women’s Team of the Year
FC Barcelona Femeni won Women’s Team of the Year. Alexia Putellas accepted the award with a few others from the FC Barcelona Femeni team. Unfortunately, not all women’s footballers are able to attend as the award ceremony is currently during a women’s international break.
Men’s Team of the Year
Real Madrid won Men’s Team of the Year. Real Madrid was not in attendance for the award ceremony as a protest. The club felt as though one of their players was snubbed for the main award, the Ballon d’Or. The hosts accepted the award on behalf of the club.
Gerd Muller Trophy
Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe both received the Gerd Muller Trophy, as they tied for most goals at 52. This is the first time in the history of this trophy that it will be shared. Mbappe was not in attendance.
2024 Yachine Trophy
Emiliano Martinez won the 2024 Yachine Trophy for best goalkeeper. This is Martinez’s second time winning this award. He also has won the award in back-to-back award ceremonies in 2023 and 2024. This is the first time that has happened in the history of the award.
Socrates Award
Jennifer Hermoso won the Socrates Award for her work in women’s soccer and equality. Hermoso received a standing ovation.
Women’s Coach of the Year
Emma Hayes won the Women’s Coach of the Year. She recently finished her tenure at Chelsea and won Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics with the United States Women’s National team. She is the first winner of this award, as it is the first year it has existed. She sent in a video accepting the award and thanking the organization.
Men’s Coach of the Year
Carlo Ancelotti won the Men’s Coach of the Year. He is the head coach for Real Madrid, who was not in attendance. Ancelotti is also the first winner of this award and is in its first year. There was no video accepting the award.
Men’s Ballon d’Or
The winner of the Men’s Ballon d’Or is Rodrigo Hernández Cascante. He is most commonly known as Rodri.
Women’s Ballon d’Or
The winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or is Aitana Bonmati. This is her third time winning the award.
