Ballon d’Or originated in 1956 as an award for the best football player on the planet. The inaugural winner was Stanley Matthews. Since then, 42 men have claimed the title of the best footballer, but this year will be the first when international journalists will need to decide on who’s the best female player.
”Women’s football is a booming discipline that deserves the same respect as men’s football,”
”It’s coming to maturity and growing bigger. More than 760 million TV viewers watched games at the last women’s World Cup in 2015, this did not happen by chance.” – France Football chief editor Pascal Ferre
Among the 15 contenders is 35-year-old Christine Sinclair. Canada’s national team captain has scored 173 international goals during her illustrious career and needs 12 more to set the world record currently held by retired American soccer star Abby Wambach. Sinclair is not among the favorites to win the Golden Ball, but if she did, it would be more a lifetime achievement award for everything she has done throughout the years.
2018 Women’s Ballon d’Or candidates
Majestic Brazilian Marta, who won FIFA’s The Best award for the 5th time this year, Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, who scored 31 goals in just 20 appearances for Lyon, including setting the record for most goals in a single Champions League edition with 15, German Dzsenifer Marozsan, who won the domestic and Champions League double with Lyon, Australian Samantha Kerr, U.S. Soccer league’s top goalscorer and USNWT captain Megan Rapinoe are the main favourites for the inaugural 2018 Women’s Ballon d’Or.
This is the full list of candidates:
Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Pernille Harder (Werder Bremen)
Ada Hegerberg (Lyon)
Amandine Henry (Lyon)
Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns)
Fran Kirby (Chelsea)
Samantha Kerr (Red Stars Chicago)
Saki Kumagai (Lyon)
Amel Majri (Lyon)
Dzsenifer Marozsan (Lyon)
Marta (Orlando Pride)
Lieke Martens (Barcelona)
Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign)
Wendie Renard (Lyon)
Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns)
Kopa Trophy nominees
The Kopa trophy is another new award France Football introduces this year. It is an accolade named in honor of the late Raymond Kopa, the first French player to win the Ballon d’Or back in 1958 and given to the best young player of the year. Only former Ballon d’Or winners will have the right to vote for the Kopa trophy, choosing from a list of 10 under-21 players. Kylian Mbappe is a huge favorite to win it this year.
Ballon d’Or young player of the year list
Houssem Aouar (Lyon)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Patrick Cutrone (Milan)
Ritsu Doan (Groningen)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan)
Amadou Haidara (Red Bull Salzburg)
Justin Kluivert (Roma)
Kylian Mbappé (PSG)
Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund)
Rodrygo (Santos)
