Ballon d’Or cancelled for 2020 due to coronavirus

Daniel Foley22/07/2020 8:00 am22/07/2020

For the first time in its history, the Ballon d’Or will not be awarded in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It has been awarded every year since 1956, however France Football, the organisation who awards the Ballon d’Or, said that 2020 was not an ordinary year due to the interruptions. Some league seasons were cut short and meant that there could not be a fair comparison between players for this year.

The trophies for the best women’s player, best goalkeeper and best young player will also not be awarded.

A France Football Dream Team will take the awards place for this year. The usual juries will be asked to choose 11 players for a dream team.

“Because the history of soundtrack is too precious to take the risk of damaging it with a wobbly exercise,” Pascal Ferré said, editor-in-chief of France Football.

“In these hectic times, taking a break is a luxury as well as an inestimable necessity. So that football, as a whole, regains momentum and momentum, passion and emotion.

“We did not want to place an indelible asterisk on the style ‘Trophy won in exceptional circumstances due to the Covid-19 health crisis’. We will always prefer a small sprain (to our story) to a big scar. It was the first time since 1956 that the Ballon d’Or had taken a break.

“The parenthesis does not enchant us but seems to us the most responsible and logical. Protecting the credibility and legitimacy of such an award also means ensuring that it is irreproachable over time.”

Coronavirus is still affecting soccer leagues across the world, although in the last week both the English Premier League and Major League Soccer have had zero positive results in their tests of players and club staff. Both leagues tested more than a thousand people.

Earlier this month MLS teams FC Dallas and Nashville SC had to withdraw from the ‘MLS is Back’ tournament after a high number of players in their squads tested positive to COVID-19.

On Tuesday it was also announced that a La Liga2 game between RC Deportivo and CF Fuenlabrada had to be postponed after some members of CF Fuenlabrada tested positive to the virus.

Previous ArticleFootball Queensland announces independent governance review of the sportNext ArticleFootball Queensland launches new school partnership

Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

Patrick Irving16/04/2026 8:55 am16/04/2026

Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

Patrick Irving15/04/2026 6:05 am14/04/2026

Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.