It’s only a matter of time before we know the recipient of the 2024 Ballon d’Or. Tonight, one of the 30 nominees will take home the prestigious trophy. While there’s still time before the event begins at the iconic Thétre de Chtelet in Paris, France, Vinicius Jr. and Aitana Bonmati are already rumored as the winners in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively. This raises the question of how exactly the voting process works and who decides the winners.

Starting with the people who select the winners, it’s actually a panel that includes some of the top journalists across FIFA’s 100 top-ranked members for the men’s game and the top 50 for the women’s game. Journalists have the freedom to choose their top five players, assigning points based on each player’s ranking. A first-place selection earns six points, second place receives four, third place gets three, fourth place earns two, and fifth place secures one point. Ultimately, the player with the highest total points from all votes is awarded that year’s Ballon d’Or.

FYI, the voting process has been slightly revised by France Football magazine, the organizer of this award, since 2022. Earlier, journalists used to make their picks on the basis of the player’s performance from January to December of the last year, while also considering the achievements of the overall career. However, now the voting mostly works on the individual performances in a single European season that spans from August to July.

That’s not all as other factors including the overall team’s success on both domestic and international stages, as well as fair play and on-pitch behavior are also taken into consideration. This way, it results in a fair assessment of all the nominated players and a clear decision can be made for the recipient of the award. This explains why all of the following reasons make Vinicus Jr and Aitana Bonmati clear favorites to win the Ballon d’Or Men and Ballon d’Or Feminin respectively.

Vinicius Jr and Aitana Bonmati are set to be crowned with the Ballon d’Or trophy!

Starting with Vinicius Jr, the Brazilian remains at the forefront for obvious reasons. He lifted the UEFA Champions League as well as La Liga with Real Madrid, not to mention he scored in the final against Borussia Dortmund. However, he can be considered alongside Jude Bellingham, who was voted the La Liga MVP last season. Furthermore, Spain and Manchester City star Rodri has also been backed for the award for winning the UEFA Euros.

Meanwhile, as for the Ballon d’Or Feminine, there’s no reason why Aitana Bonamati shouldn’t be getting a chance to defend her second consecutive victory. Then again, her fellow Barcelona teammates Salma Paralluelo and Caroline Graham Hansen can also be considered favorites. Others include USWNT star Mallory Swanson and Jamaica’s Khadija Shaw.

Then again, it would be the today’s night that will give us the much-anticipated answers. In the meantime, shoot your thoughts in the comments.