Ballon d’Or to be awarded on September 22

PARIS: The Ballon d’Or award ceremony will take place on September 22 this year and the number of awards for women and men will be equal for the first time, organisers said on Monday.

Awards for best women’s goalkeeper, best young women’s player and the top women’s scorer in a club or national team have been added to the list this year for the ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France Football magazine and UEFA said.

That means there will be six awards for male players and six for female players, with an additional prize, the Socrates Award, for actions that promote solidarity, which is open to men or women.

The nominees will be announced in early August.

Last year’s awards ceremony was overshadowed by a boycott by Real Madrid after they learned that their Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior had not won the best men’s player award, which went to Rodri of Manchester City.

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The 28-year-old Rodri defeated several famous candidates, including Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham. Rodri’s role in Manchester City’s historic fourth consecutive Premiere League title and Spain’s European Championship victory played a huge part in netting the prestigious award.

Rodri had become the first defensive midfielder to win the Ballon d’Or since Lothar Matthaus in 1990, and only the third Spaniard, following Alfredo Di Stefano and Luis Suarez.