Ballon d'Or Féminin

The Ballon d'Or Féminin, also known as the Women's Ballon d'Or, is an association football award presented by France Football that honours the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. It was first awarded in 2018, with Ada Hegerberg of Norway becoming the inaugural recipient of the award. Australian striker Sam Kerr and French defender Wendie Renard are the only players to have been nominated for the award every year since its inception (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). Sam Kerr is the only player to place in the top 20 nominations every year, and has consistently been in the top 7. In 2022, Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas became the first and only player to win the award twice and in consecutive years. Mary Earps won the highest ever rank for a goalkeeper at fifth place in 2023.

Controversy
The ceremony for the Ballon d'Or is held every year during women's international break, meaning women nominated for the Ballon d'Or are often unable to attend. 2023 nominee Georgia Stanway expressed frustration she could not be present at this "potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", having an Olympic qualifier match in another country less than 24 hours from the ceremony. Only seven out of thirty women were able to be at the ceremony in 2023. These attendees had games the next day and missed training, but came to accept the award for best club team of 2023, given to Barcelona. Stanway called for better scheduling with women in mind so more female footballers could attend. England manager Sarina Wiegman expressed disappointment that the players' hard work would not be properly rewarded due to this scheduling conflict with international duty.

The Ballon d'Or is the only award for women during this event, with no women's equivalent of the Kopa Trophy, Yashin Trophy, and Gerd Müller Trophy that are given to men. 2022 second place Ballon d'Or nominee Beth Mead said, "[The Ballon d’Or] is such a prestigious award. But then it was a tick box to have women there but they weren't doing it right.