Ballon d’Or announces four changes to award – including who decides the winner

France Football have announced four major changes to their Ballon d'Or award – including who decides the winner.

The prize, which has been awarded annually since 1956, came in for fierce criticism last year after the Men's was won by Lionel Messi for a record-extending seventh time.

Many fans and pundits alike felt that Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski should have picked up the gong instead of the PSG forward.

The French magazine have now responded with amendments to the way in which the winner is determined.

Firstly, voting will now be based on performance over the course of the European season, rather than the calendar year.

The 2022 ceremony will therefore reflect the 2021/22 campaign, with the Women's Euros in July the final matches to make the cut.

The second change involves the shortlisting process.

Previously, this involved just journalists from France Football and fellow publication L'Equipe.

Going forward, former Chelsea striker and now Ballon d'Or ambassador Didier Drogba will also help with the shortlists alongside the "most insightful voter" from the previous year.

This year he will be joined by Vietnamese journalist Truong Anh Ngoc for the Men's award and Czech judge Karolina Hlavackova for the Women's award.

Do you think the changes are an improvement? Let us know in the comments section.

After the shortlists have been drawn up comes the voting stage, which is where the third alteration will take place.

Only the representatives from the first 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for the Men's award and the first 50 for the Women's will be allowed to vote.

The fourth and final change sees up an update provided on the criteria for the award.

Voters will be asked to decide based on three aspects.

Number one will be "individual performance and the decisive and impressive character of the contenders".

Number two will be "collective performance and the record accumulated during the season".

And number three will "concern the class of the player and his sense of fair play, because setting an example also counts".

A player's overall career will no longer be taken into account.

The 2022 ceremony is set to take place in October.

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