Super Ballon d’Or: Everything you need to know about the rarest award given only once and who could win it next

We all know about the Ballon d’Or award. The Ballon d’Or is awarded by the French magazine France Football (owned by the L’Équipe Group) since 1956 to the best individual player in the preceding year. It is considered the highest individual honour in the world of football.

There have been many greats who have been awarded the Ballon d’Or. However, during the early days, the award was only given to European players, due to which Pele and Maradona were denied the award despite being the best players of their time. Now it is given to the best player regardless of his country.

In recent years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo formed a duopoly over the award with Messi winning it for a record 7 times while Ronaldo won it 5 times. Luka Modric and Karim Benzema are the only two players who have won the award besides the two legends of the game.

Robert Lewandowski was arguably the best footballer during 2020-21 but the award was cancelled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic which denied the Poland international to get his hands on the coveted prize.

Once again, Lionel Messi is in the prime position to win the Ballon d’Or 2023 after he won the World Cup 2022 trophy with Argentina. He has been in terrific form this season for both his club and country.

What is the Super Ballon d’Or award?

The main awards which are presented at the annual Ballon d’Or gala ceremony are

• Men’s Ballon d’Or Award – Best male player
• Women’s Ballon d’Or Award – Best female player
• Kopa Trophy – Best young player
• Gerd Müller Trophy – Best striker
• Yashin Trophy – Best goalkeeper
• Club of the Year Award – Best club
• Socrates Award – Player with the best humanitarian contribution outside of football

The Super Ballon d’Or is a special trophy and one of the rarest which was last awarded on 24th December 1989. France Football gives this award to the best football player of the last three decades. The award has only been awarded once till now. Alfredo di Stefano beat Michel Platini and Johan Cruyff to win the only Super Ballon d’Or on France Football’s 30th anniversary.

As we are already 30 years from the last time it was awarded, so the Super Ballon d’Or award is just around the corner. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only two major candidates for its special and rare award. However, Messi is the clear favourite as he has won a record 7 Ballon d’Or and is on course to win the award again in 2023.