Majid Al Khulaifi to have a say at Ballon d’Or

Doha: Estad Al Doha and Doha Stadium Plus Editor-in-chief Majid Al Khulaifi will vote for the eighth consecutive year to choose the recipient of the Ballon d’Or award given to best footballer of the world by French magazine France Football.

Al Khulaifi will also cast his vote to choose the best coach of the year, also given by the same magazine.

Ballon d’Or was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year between 2010 and 2015 after an agreement the world governing body but the deal ended before the last edition of the awards.

The national team captains and coaches of all FIFA member countries, as well as some prominent journalists, cast their votes for their top three candidates for the award, and a final list that will be made after tallying the cumulative points from all the votes will be used to come up with a list of the final three and the winner.

Barcelona’s Argentinian wizard Lionel Messi has won five Ballon d’Or awards while Real Madrid’s Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed four.