On October 30th, France Football, a sports magazine, held its 67th Ballon d’Or award ceremony in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The Ballon d’Or awards ceremony honors the best soccer players from the last season. The main award is the Ballon d’Or, and the recipient is given a golden trophy in the shape of a soccer ball. The trophy is a blend of gold and other materials and weighs a little over 15 pounds. More than half of the weight comes from its 18-carat gold coating.

This year, Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for a record breaking eighth time after leading Argentina to its third World Cup victory. Messi became the first player to win the Ballon d’Or while playing for three different clubs – Barcelona, PSG, and Inter Miami – and is also the only Ballon d’Or winner to earn the award while playing outside of Europe. Aitana Bonmati from Barcelona won her first Ballon D’Or Feminin after winning the 2022-2023 Women’s Champions League tournament and this year’s Women’s World Cup as a member of Spain’s national team.

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) won the Kopa Trophy, given to the best under-21 player. Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) won the Yashin Trophy, given to the best goalkeeper of the season. Erling Haaland (Manchester City) won the Gerd Muller Trophy, as to the striker who scored the most goals last season. The Socrates Award was given to Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid) for his incredible charity work. He created the Instituto Vini Jr and launched an app for people in his hometown country of Brazil to provide the poor with access to education. The men’s club of the year award went to Manchester City after they won a treble – a hat-trick of three championships – which were the Champions League, Premier League and the FA Cup. Women’s club of the year went to FC Barcelona, also for winning a treble for their first place finishes in the Women’s Champions league, Cope De la Reina, and the women’s La Liga.

The Ballon d’Or is the biggest soccer award ceremony in the world. This year Messi became the most awarded player in the history of football, while new stars received international recognition.