Follow live updates from Paris as the most prestigious individual award in football, the Ballon d’Or, is awarded Getty ImagesBallon d’Or 2025 — latestThe 2025 Ballon d’Or takes place in Paris, France today, where the best player in the world in men’s and women’s football will be crowned.Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele are expected to fight it out for the men’s award while Mariona Caldentey, Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati are all in contention for the Ballon d’Or Féminin.Bonmati won that award last year, while her fellow Spaniard Rodri won the men’s prize.

Follow live coverage below.Start time: 7.45pm BST, 2.45pm EDTWatch: L’Equipe YouTube, Paramount+Email us: live@theathletic.com Get in touch today The AthleticWe’d love to hear from you ahead of today’s ceremony.

Who do you think should take home the two top prizes of the evening? Which player do you think was unfortunate to miss out on a place on the shortlist? And are you a fan of individual awards in football?Get in touch by emailing live@theathletic.com.

What do you need to do to win it? Getty ImagesThe official criteria, as laid out by France Football, directs the jurors to consider three factors: individual performances and decisive and impressive character; collective performances and honours; class and fair play.Beyond that, being a striker helps.Of the 68 men’s Ballons d’Or issued to date, 45 have been to forwards.

It’s a figure slightly skewed by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but even without them it’s the glory boys with the goals that, understandably, tend to get the most love from the votes.Of the rest, 18 have gone to midfielders, 14 of which were basically wingers or No 10s.

Four have gone to defenders — Franz Beckenbauer has two, Fabio Cannavaro and Matthias Sammer one each — and just one to a goalkeeper, Lev Yashin, way back in 1963.Who decides who wins? Getty ImagesJournalists, in short.

I know.

You wouldn’t trust journalists to decide which colour pants to put on in the morning, never mind who the best player in the world is, but this is a solemn duty that has been passed down the generations.For the men’s award one journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the world, as decided by the FIFA rankings, is chosen as their respective nation’s representative.

For the women’s award it’s one from each of the top 50.

These jurors are given a shortlist of 30 players, from which they must pick a top five, awarding six, four, three, two and one points to their respective choices.

The player with the most points wins the award.If you were wondering why they have missed out five points, it’s to add extra weight to the top choice, to mitigate against an unsatisfactory situation where second place votes could decide the winner.That shortlist of 30 names is settled upon by a panel that features the editorial staff of France Football and L’Equipe, any of the previous year’s jurors whose choices tallied exactly with the eventual top three, and ‘Ballon d’Or ambassador’ Didier Drogba.In previous years, the players were judged over a calendar year, but in 2022 that was tweaked slightly to cover what was essentially a European season: from the previous August to July.

The eligibility criteria for today’s awards Getty ImagesThese days, any footballer in the world is eligible.But that hasn’t always been the case.

When the award first started it was open only to European players.

Then in 1995 it was expanded to include anyone playing in European football, and that year George Weah became the first non-European to win it.Then, finally, in 2007 it was expanded to include any footballer playing in any country around the world.What is the history of the Ballon d’Or? Getty ImagesThe first Ballon d’Or was awarded in 1956, and back then was widely known simply as the European Footballer Of The Year award.

It was the brainchild of Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, two journalists from France Football magazine.Hanot was a pretty extraordinary character: he was a player, manager and journalist, and at one point he was effectively the head coach of the French national team at the same time as being editor of the sports newspaper L’Equipe.

After one particularly embarrassing defeat, the paper called for those who ran French football and the national team to be replaced… meaning he basically called for himself to be fired.Beyond that, he played a key role in introducing professionalism to French football in the early 1930s, and was the man who persuaded UEFA that the European Cup, now the Champions League, would be a good idea.It took 62 years for France Football to introduce the Ballon d’Or Feminin — in 2018.What is the Ballon d’Or? Getty ImagesThe Ballon d’Or is an annual award given to the best men’s and women’s footballers in the world.

Basically, it’s world football’s MVP award.The Yashin Trophy contenders Getty ImagesHere are the players nominated for the Yashin Trophy:Alisson (Liverpool and Brazil)Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal and Morocco)Lucas Chevalier (Lille and France)Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid and Belgium)Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Manchester City and Italy)Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa and Argentina)Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid and Slovenia)David Raya (Arsenal and Spain)Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest and Belgium)Yann Sommer (Inter and Switzerland)Martinez looking for a third Yashin Trophy Getty ImagesLike Aitana Bonmatí, who is attempting to become the first player to win the Ballon d’Or Feminin three years in a row, Emiliano Martínez is hoping he will be the first to complete a ‘three-peat’ of Yashin Trophy honours.The award for the best performing men’s goalkeeper is named after former Soviet Union goalkeeper Lev Yashin.Kopa Trophy nominees Getty ImagesHere’s the full list of players in contention for the Kopa Trophy:Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona and Spain)Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille and France)Desire Doue (Paris Saint-Germain and France)Estevao (Palmeiras/Chelsea and Barcelona)Dean Huijsen (Bournemouth/Real Madrid and Spain)Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal and England)Rodrigo Mora (Porto and Portugal)Joao Neves (Paris Saint-Germain and Portugal)Kenan Yildiz (Juventus and Turkey)Lamine Yamal (Barcelona and Spain)Yamal aiming to make a piece of history Getty ImagesLamine Yamal is meanwhile hoping to become the first footballer in the seven-year history of the Kopa Trophy to defend the title.The Kopa Trophy is an award presented to the best performing player worldwide under the age of 21.

It is named after the late French player Raymond Kopa, the winner of the 1958 Ballon d’Or.Your views on the women’s shortlist Getty ImagesMark A: “They should just rename this award, the best female player from or playing in Europe.

This list is insulting to NWSL and American players.

The only redemption for this list is Banda, Chawinga, & Marta.

Total farce otherwise.”Graham H: “And the winner is … Chloe Kelly.”2025 Ballon d’Or Feminin nominees Getty ImagesThe full women’s shortlist is as follows: Sandy Baltimore (Chelsea)Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride)Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)Lucy Bronze (Chelsea)Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal)Klara Buhl (Bayern Munich)Sofia Cantore (Washington Spirit)Steph Catley (Arsenal)Melchie Dumornay (Lyon)Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current)Emily Fox (Arsenal)Cristiana Girelli (Juventus)Esther Gonzalez (Gotham FC)Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona)Hannah Hampton (Chelsea)Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich)Patri Guijarro (Barcelona)Amanda Gutierres (Palmeiras)Lindsey Heaps (Lyon)Chloe Kelly (Arsenal)Frida Maanum (Arsenal)Marta (Orlando Pride)Clara Mateo (Paris FC)Ewa Pajor (Barcelona)Claudia Pina (Barcelona)Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)Alessia Russo (Arsenal)Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea)Caroline Weir (Real Madrid)Leah Williamson (Arsenal)Seven Arsenal stars on women’s shortlist Getty ImagesThe shortlist for the 2025 Ballon d’Or Feminin was also announced in August, with Aitana Bonmati, Marta and Alexia Putellas among the nominees.United States women’s national team captain Lindsey Heaps is also on the 30-player shortlist alongside international team-mate Emily Fox.Fox is one of seven Arsenal players nominated — the most of any club —alongside Mariona Caldentey, Steph Catley, Chloe Kelly, Frida Maanum, Alessia Russo and Leah Williamson.

Arsenal won the 2025 Champions League with victory over Barcelona, their first triumph in the competition since 2007.Your views on the men’s shortlist Getty ImagesElias V: “Raphina, Dembele, or Salah for Ballon d’Or is the only shortlist that makes sense.

Anything else is too influenced by hype or team bias, and that’s coming from a Yamal fanboy.”Robert F: “Dembele, Salah, Raphinha, Hakimi, Vitinha my top 5.”Keith K: “Dembele had only 21 goals and 6 assists, playing in a farmers league.

That alone should disqualify him…”Get in touch with your views by emailing live@theathletic.com.Ballon d’Or nominees in full Getty ImagesThe full list of nominated men’s players is as follows:Ousmane Dembele (PSG)Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)Desire Doue (PSG)Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan)Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund)Erling Haaland (Man City)Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal)Achraf Hakimi (PSG)Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG)Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)Scott McTominay (Napoli)Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)Nuno Mendes (PSG)Joao Neves (PSG)Pedri (Barcelona)Cole Palmer (Chelsea)Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)Raphinha (Barcelona)Declan Rice (Arsenal)Fabian Ruiz (PSG)Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)Vitinha (PSG)Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)The 2025 men’s shortlist Getty ImagesThe shortlists for the 2025 Ballon d’Or were announced in August, with Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Ousmane Dembele among the nominees for the men’s award.England internationals Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice and Harry Kane are also on the 30-player shortlist, while Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay has been nominated for the first time after winning the Serie A title with Napoli.The full list of 2024 winners Getty ImagesBallon d’Or: Rodri (Manchester City and Spain)Ballon d’Or Féminin: Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona and Spain)Yashin Trophy: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa and Argentina)Kopa Trophy: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona and Spain)Men’s Johan Cruyff Trophy: Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid)Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy: Emma Hayes (Chelsea, USWNT)Men’s Club of the Year: Real Madrid (Spain)Women’s Club of the Year: Barcelona (Spain)Gerd Müller Trophy: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich and England) and Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid and France)Sócrates Award: Jennifer Hermoso (Tigres UANL, Spain)Your views on Rodri’s 2024 win Getty ImagesSam S: “He was definitely the right winner.

And he arguably deserved it last year, too.

He has been the best player in the Premier League and Europe for the last few years.

Real Madrid’s pathetic boycott just further demonstrated why the right man had won.”Jake B: “Recognition for a player who is not an attacking player is so refreshing.

Rodri 100% deserved the award: he went over 70 games unbeaten throughout Manchester City’s treble season and he was also the standout player and player of the tournament in Spain’s Euro 2024 victory.

Vini Jr would have probably snuck it if he had a better campaign in the Copa, but he will be back in the next few years to win one, two or maybe even three or more, he has plenty of time.

Congratulations to Rodri.”Remember, you can get involved too by emailing live@theathletic.com.

… but no chance for Rodri Getty ImagesSadly, there’s zero chance of Rodri defending his crown.

The Manchester City midfielder has only just returned after eight months out with a knee injury.He unsurprisingly failed to make the 30-man shortlist for the award.