The nominees for the 2024 Ballon d’Or have set tongues wagging in the soccer world. Be it the surprising absentees or newbies, everyone is caught off guard by the list. Shifting the focus specifically on the feminine category, Naomi Girma turned out to be one of the biggest snubs from the 30-player list as Lindsey Horan, Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith, and Alyssa Naeher made the cut. This has ignited a solid question of exactly how the process behind the nominations is carried out.

It’s obvious that the entity or the organization that introduced this award must be the one behind all the procedures and crucial decisions. In this case, we shall introduce France Football, a French magazine and soccer publication, which is the actual brainchild of this prestigious tournament. Now typically, an editorial team of France Football is given the task of nominating 30 players, after which a panel of journalists takes over.

Earlier, journalists from over 180 countries were given a ballot in order to ensure global recognition and the scope of the award. These media representatives were given the task of selecting their top 5 players which France Football used to tally the overall votes to determine the final rankings. However, since the 2022 edition, the apex publication introduced significant changes.

They reduced the number of nations that were eligible to vote to just the top 100 countries in the FIFA Men’s World Ranking (for the men’s award) and the top 50 countries in the Women’s World Ranking (for the women’s award). Notably, the call was also made to ensure that only countries with a strong soccer culture would have a say in Ballon d’Or.

That’s not all as even the criteria of selecting the initial shortlist also changed in 2022. Now, the list is decided by journalists from France Football and L’Équipe, along with Ballon d’Or ambassador Didier Drogba and three media members whose previous season ballots most closely matched the final results.

This might be a better way to select the true candidate who deserves the award. Otherwise, hearing the past instances might make you wonder the legimitacy of these awards. Regardless, now that we have understood who selects the nominees, let’s see what the criteria are based on which the players are selected.

Criteria for Ballon d’Or Feminin Nominees: Did Naomi Girma miss something?

One can call Ballon d’Or a benchmark for determining which player had the best year. However, starting with the 2021/22 edition, the best season will be considered. Journalist typically selects their votes by various criteria. First is by individual performance, not calendar year-wise but season-wise. Next is the player’s collective success with their respective team.

Last but not least is the individual’s behavior and fair play throughout the campaign. These guidelines ensure that players who excel individually and collectively are more likely to receive the recognition they deserve. In the past, voters also considered a player’s overall career achievements. However, this practice was eventually ditched.

In the case of Naomi Girma, she had a decent year. Keeping aside the 2023 World Cup upset, she led her domestic side San Diego Wave FC to the 2023 NWSL Shield. On the individual front, she was voted as the 2023 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year, not to mention the 24-year-old has also been awarded as NWSL Defender of the Year twice.

Plus, you can add the Olympic gold medal to her resume. In conclusion, Naomi Girma had a pretty good season. Yet again, the defender didn’t make the 30-player list. Let’s hope that France Football has a solid reason to back her snub. Otherwise, the soccer fraternity already calls it no less than a robbery.