Awarded by France Football magazine, the Ballon d'Or (English translation: The Golden Ball) is often referred to as 'The European Footballer Of The Year' award, and it is chosen each year by football journalists. When it began life in 1956, it was only open to European Players who were playing for European clubs, but in 1995 this was broadened to also include non-European players who were based at European clubs. During 2007 this was expanded again to include all players of all nationalities, playing for all global football clubs, and more journalists were also added to the pool which chooses the winner, with 96 football writers - up from 52 - now picking their top five players from the previous calendar year.