Ballon d’Or scrapped due to Covid

Paris, July 20

The Ballon d’Or will not be awarded this year for the first time in its 64-year history after the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the football calendar, organisers France Football magazine said today. The prestigious award, voted for by journalists, is an annual prize given to the best male footballer in the world since 1956. The women’s Ballon d’Or was first awarded in 2018.

Pascal Ferre, editor-in-chief of France Football, said: “...two months (January-February), out of the eleven generally required to form an opinion and decide who should lift the trophies, represent far too little to gauge and judge.” — Reuters