FIFA is about to abolish the Golden Ball, what award will the best player in the world receive?

The FIFA Ballon d'Or award is set to be axed due to a failure to reach a contract extension.

The annual world player of the year award under the name FIFA Ballon d'Or was born in 2010, under an agreement between the World Football Federation (FIFA) and France Football magazine, the copyright owner of the Ballon d'Or.

However, 2016 will most likely be the last time the FIFA Ballon d'Or award is given. The reason is that FIFA and France Football have been unable to reach an agreement to extend the contract while the current contract is only valid until the end of this year.

The Ballon d'Or award was created in 1956 and in 2010, under Sepp Blatter, FIFA spent 15 million euros to buy the copyright for 6 years. However, with the appearance of Gianni Infantino as president, the relationship between FIFA and France Football became very cold and showed signs of breaking down. Moreover, Mr. Infantino wanted an award organized entirely by FIFA.

Before the merger, the FIFA World Player of the Year (1991-2009) and the France Football Ballon d'Or (1956-2009) were the two most prestigious annual awards for footballers. The voting format of each organization was also somewhat different. FIFA asked for the opinions of captains and head coaches of national teams of member federations while France Football asked for the opinions of prestigious journalists around the world.

In case the parties do not reach an agreement, it is very likely that the award for the best player in the world will be suspended from 2017. This is clearly not good news for the world of football.

According to Bongdaplus