This year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony will be held on September 22 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, organizers announced on Monday. For the first time in the award’s history, men and women will receive an equal number of honors.
New categories have been introduced to recognize female athletes, including awards for Best Women’s Goalkeeper, Best Young Women’s Player, and Top Women’s Scorer at club or international level. With these additions, six awards will now be presented in both the men’s and women’s categories.
An additional honor, the Socrates Award, will also be given for contributions to social and humanitarian causes. This award is open to nominees of any gender.
Nominees across all categories will be revealed in early August.
Last year’s event faced controversy when Real Madrid boycotted the ceremony after learning that their star forward Vinicius Junior had not won the Best Men’s Player award, which was instead awarded to Manchester City’s Rodri.
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