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Ballon d'Or Awards to be Co-organized by European Governing Body UEFA

This photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the Ballon d'Or award displayed during the 2023 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
This photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the Ballon d'Or award displayed during the 2023 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
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Ballon d'Or Awards to be Co-organized by European Governing Body UEFA

This photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the Ballon d'Or award displayed during the 2023 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
This photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the Ballon d'Or award displayed during the 2023 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

Soccer's most prestigious individual prize, the Ballon d'Or, will be co-organized by UEFA from next year, giving the European soccer body a global event that traditionally out-ranks FIFA’s own world awards.
The deal comes seven years after a previous partnership between the French organizers of the award and world governing body FIFA ended.
From 2024, the Ballon d’Or awards and ceremony will be co-organized by UEFA and Groupe Amaury, which publishes France Football and L’Equipe.
France Football magazine created the Ballon d’Or, which was first awarded in 1956 to England winger Stanley Matthews. For six seasons from 2010 the award was known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or, and ceremonies were held in the world governing body’s home city Zurich.
FIFA has run its own Best Awards since 2016 and previously had an annual world player of the year award since 1991.
The latest edition of the Ballon d'Or was held Monday in Paris with two World Cup winners taking the awards as best player: Lionel Messi won the men’s prize for the eighth time and Aitana Bonmatí took home her first women’s award.
“UEFA will contribute its football expertise, market the global commercial rights and organize the annual awards gala,” The Associated Press quoted it as saying in a statement.
The relaunch will add new awards for the best coaches in men’s and women’s soccer.
“Together, UEFA and Groupe Amaury aim to enhance the stature and global reach of the awards while fostering a sense of unity and collaboration within the football community,” UEFA said.
The deal will also see UEFA scrap its own player of the year awards, which have traditionally been handed out in August, although it will hand out a player of the season award for each of its club competitions, such as the Champions League and Europa League.

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By the Numbers: How This Might Be the Weakest Bottom Three in Premier League History 

Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - April 6, 2025 Southampton manager Ivan Juric looks on after the match. (Action Images via Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - April 6, 2025 Southampton manager Ivan Juric looks on after the match. (Action Images via Reuters)
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By the Numbers: How This Might Be the Weakest Bottom Three in Premier League History 

Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - April 6, 2025 Southampton manager Ivan Juric looks on after the match. (Action Images via Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - April 6, 2025 Southampton manager Ivan Juric looks on after the match. (Action Images via Reuters)

It seems like it’s never been harder for promoted teams to stay in the Premier League.

It looks fairly certain that the three promoted teams will be relegated to the Championship after just one season for the second straight year. That's never previously happened in the Premier League era (since 1992).

Last season, it was Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton.

This season, Southampton’s relegation has already been confirmed — in record fashion — while Leicester and Ipswich are so far adrift of safety that they have little chance of surviving. Ipswich, in third-to-last place, is 12 points behind fourth-to-last Wolverhampton with seven games remaining.

The combined points tally of Southampton (10), Leicester (17) and Ipswich (20) would barely get them into mid-table, backing up a growing argument that this might be the weakest crop of promoted teams the Premier League has ever seen.

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at how bad their seasons have been:

Southampton

3 Southampton is already on its third manager of the season, after Ivan Juric was fired on Monday and replaced by Simon Rusk on an interim basis. It started the season with Russell Martin in charge but he was replaced by Juric in December.

7 The Saints were relegated with seven games remaining, and that’s a record. No team has ever been confirmed to go down with seven or more games to play, according to stats supplier Opta.

10 The number of points Southampton has. The race is on to beat the lowest points tally ever by a team in the Premier League era: Derby County’s 11 from the 2007-08 season.

25 The number of losses by Southampton, in 31 games played.

Leicester

8 Leicester’s 3-0 defeat to Newcastle on Monday meant the team has lost eight straight home games in the league without scoring. That’s never happened before in the top four divisions of English soccer.

11 Leicester has lost 11 homes games in a single league campaign for the first time.

72 It is now 72 days since Leicester scored — home or away — in the Premier League. The last player to hit the back of the net was Bilal El Khannouss against Tottenham on Jan. 26.

Ipswich

6 Ipswich has been beaten in each of its last six homes game, the team's longest losing run at home since 1963. The latest was against Wolves, 2-1, on Saturday.

11 The number of home losses for Ipswich this season, from 16 games.

140 Ipswich spent about 109 million pounds ($140 million) to bring in 10 players in the summer transfer window. Only Brighton spent more in the Premier League.