While the Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award in football, FIFA's The Best awards are quickly becoming a similar offering, as the football governing body recognises the most exceptional individual performances of the calendar year.
There are many differences between the two awards, including how the voting process works. FIFA's The Best awards encompass voting from various different sectors of the game, bringing together a variety of people to decide the most outstanding players and coaches in the sport.
While the Ballon d'Or recently changed its voting period to encompass the European season from August to May, FIFA The Best awards are still awarded based on a calendar year, meaning this year's awards are covering play during the 2022 year.
The 2023 awards will be streamed on FIFA's official website, with the ceremony taking place Monday, February 27 at 9 p.m. local time in Paris (8 p.m. GMT / 3 p.m. ET).
MORE: All the FIFA The Best award categories, nominees, and previous winners
Who votes for FIFA The Best awards?
To determine the winners of the FIFA The Best awards, the voting is split off into four categories.
Fans, national team coaches, national team captains, and 300 media members from the various FIFA member nations are all given 25 per cent of the total vote to then determine who wins the awards in each category.
According to FIFA's website, these four categories represent the "four pillars of the footballing world," and therefore are the basis for the voting system.
The fan vote is accessible on FIFA.com and each fan who creates an account is eligible to cast one vote for each category. Voting was open from January 12, 2023 to February 26, 2023, with the awards presented in the ceremony on February 27.
Coming 🔜: #TheBest FIFA Football Awards
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) February 20, 2023
With one week to go, remind yourself of the finalists for each category:
How FIFA The Best nominees are determined
While the fans, coaches, players, and media all vote to determine the final winners in each category, players and coaches must be nominated as a finalist to be eligible on the ballot.
FIFA says that nominees are selected "by FIFA in collaboration with football stakeholders." While the details of that process are not publicly clear, they state that a "panel of experts" are chosen to determine the nominees.
The rules for the awards also state that while three players or coaches are to be nominated by this panel for each category (other than the Puskas Award), if two or more individuals are tied for the final nomination on votes, then all tied individuals are included amongst the final nominations.
When did FIFA The Best awards start?
FIFA's The Best awards have been handed out since 2017, with the 2016 season being the first under consideration, making them a relatively recent phenomenon.
In the past, FIFA partnered with France Football to hand out the more popular Ballon d'Or award, but that partnership ended in 2016, and FIFA embarked on its own set of awards for the top players in the sport.
The Ballon d'Or has been around since 1956, and FIFA has work to do to establish the prestige of The Best awards in comparison, but they are still considered top-level trophies since they are tied directly to the football governing body.
Is FIFA The Best different from Ballon d'Or?
If the Ballon d'Or sounds more familiar that's because it has been around a lot longer than FIFA's The Best.
The first Ballon d'Or was handed out in 1956, while FIFA's awards in their current form were only rolled out recently in 2017.
Both awards are decided by a very different set of voters. Journalists from around the world have always exclusively decided the winner of the Ballon d'Or, while FIFA's voting system incorporates fan, player, and coach input. It makes sense that the Ballon d'or is voted on exclusively by the media, as it is handed out by French publication France Football.
Another key difference between both awards is when they are judged and handed out.
The Ballon d'Or is generally handed out in October and now bases its winners on their performances across a single season. FIFA, however, still hold their award ceremony either at the beginning of a calendar year with winners judged on their performances across the previous calendar year. So for example, this year's award ceremony in February, 2023 encompasses performances in the 2022 year.
