I was selected as the United States journalist to vote on the women’s Ballon d’Or this year. Though the general process is fairly well known and the voting criteria are public, here’s a glimpse into what it’s like to vote for the award.
Being asked to do this is certainly not something I took lightly given the award’s history — the Ballon d’Or Feminin has only been awarded since 2018 — and the history of women’s soccer in general. There’s only one individual player award on the women’s side, as the men’s side also offers the Kopa trophy for best under-21 player, the Yashin trophy for best goalkeeper, and the Gerd Müller trophy for the top scorer. And the ceremony itself, held Oct. 28 this year, clashes with the women’s international calendar.
While awards can’t be the be-all and end-all for the sport and its players, in the women’s game, the long fight to be taken seriously and for media and fans alike to assign women the appropriate gravitas does factor into the weight of these kinds of ceremonies. Even the fact that there are 100 jurors for the men’s award and 50 for the women’s award is an indicator of how far we have yet to go in covering the women’s game, and a call to leverage moments like these to increase coverage and encourage media…
