Messi won his eighth Ballon d'Or in 2023, partly thanks to Argentina winning 2022 FIFA World Cup
France Football has weighed in on the long-running debate over the criteria for winning the Ballon d’Or, saying that lifting the FIFA World Cup is no longer a guarantee of claiming football’s most prestigious individual award.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup ongoing in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the magazine revisited the history of the Ballon d’Or to examine how closely the award has been linked to World Cup success since 1995, when eligibility was expanded beyond European players.
The organiser disclosed this in a statement sighted on its website on Tuesday.
Historically, World Cup winners frequently went on to claim the Ballon d’Or.
