First awarded by France Football magazine in 1956, the Ballon d’Or has grown from a relatively modest sporting honour into football’s most prestigious individual accolade. Its recent history has been dominated by the superstar rivalry between Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who combined have won 13 Ballon d'Or awards between 2008 and 2023.

I hate what it has become. The glitz and glamour. The simpering, Oscar-esque campaigning. Above all, I hate how it reduces football, that most beautiful of collective endeavours, to a procession of individual superstars competing for their place in some manufactured celebrity hierarchy of greatness.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself lying in darkness, laptop propped on my chest, glued to the BBC’s coverage. And imagine my even greater astonishment when, as England’s Harry Kane was named this year’s men’s winner, I found myself experiencing a genuine swell of emotion.

Why had an award that seemed to embody everything I despised about modern football moved me so profoundly?

My research examines football support as a form of living cultural heritage. One of my central arguments is that football heritage is about far more than historic stadiums, trophies or great players immortalised........

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