Football’s most prestigious individual awards night was held in Paris on Monday night. The world’s top players attended the Ballon d’Or ceremony but several notable nominees were not in attendance. 

Once again, the Ballon d’Or ceremony was held in the middle of the women’s international window, meaning many of the female nominees could not celebrate their achievements including Lionesses players Georgia Stanway, Millie Bright, Rachel Daly and Mary Earps. 

Georgia Stanway, who was up for the women’s award for the first time after her stellar season at Bayern Munich and standout performances in an England shirt, vocalised her frustration with the schedule. 

“It’s potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’ said Stanway. “You never know if you’re going to get selected for such an accolade like that again, so it would be nice to enjoy the experience and be there and feel like a star among the stars.”

The Lionesses were in Leuven preparing for their game against Belgium on Tuesday 31st October, but they were not the only ones missing. Sam Kerr, who fell just short of the prize coming second to the winner Aitana Bonmati, was tens of thousands of miles away playing in her hometown, Perth, for the Matildas. 

And this isn’t the first time this has happened. 

The 2021 Ballon d’Or ceremony was also held during the women’s international window, resulting in the same problems. After introducing the women’s Ballon d’Or five years ago, in 2018, the women’s categories still feel like they are tacked on rather than an integral part of the night. On top of that the women’s players continue to be excluded from the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player, the Gerd Müller Trophy for best striker and the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper.

Despite this, there was much anticipation about the women’s award after another groundbreaking year for women’s football but even the presentation of the women’s award felt disjointed. 

For one, tennis player Novak Djokovic was chosen to hand out the women’s award, while internationally acclaimed football legend David Beckham awarded Lionel Messi the men’s trophy. Not only is he a tennis player but has previously been embroiled in a questionable debate over equal pay for his female counterparts. 

 There are so many legendary players in the women’s game who would have been a much more appropriate choice to present the women’s award. The women’s game has seen an incredible rise over the last few years, it is easy to forget that some of the game’s greatest names were playing during a time when women could not play professionally let alone be recognised at an international awards ceremony. Overlooking such obvious choices and the chance to highlight their contribution to the game feels like a complete lack of care or thought. 

Beyond that, when Bonmati reached the stage to receive the sport’s highest individual award, the trophy was simply nowhere to be seen. Someone then had to rush backstage and retrieve the award for her. Another example of total disorganisation, but no male winner had to go through anything similar on the night.

And, if viewers were left a little confused by Djovovic’s presence on the stage, then they would have been dumbfounded by the artist Rema’s performance of his hit song ‘Calm Down’. 

Those who watched the show would have seen Rema make his way off the stage into the crowd where he greets the players in the front rows — but, of course, not all of them. Rema goes out of his way to shake the hand of the only male footballer seated in a row of top players from the women’s game including the eventual winner, Bonmati. He then moved on to the adjacent row only to skip past one of the world’s greatest, Mapi Leon, to shake hands with the rest of the row of men. 

Rema’s performance was, of course, nothing that organisers were in control of, nor is it clear that Rema intentionally ignored the women, but it did leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the fans of women’s football. 

In total, a night that was supposed to highlight the greatest players in the game still somehow kept them in the shadows. 

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Imogen is a recent graduate from Columbia Journalism School where she completed her master’s in journalism. She has written about women’s sports, LGBTQ+ stories and recently moved back from New York after working in a local newsroom in the city. Imogen has played on multiple sports teams and sport continues to be a driving passion in her life. She also loves going to concerts and discovering new music.