The Ballon d'Or, an accolade given each season to herald the world's greatest player of the last 12 months, is set to return to it's original format.

Created in 2010 to tie in with France Football's Ballon d'Or award - which was voted on by journalists exclusively and not by players around the world - joined with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or and gave footballers, coaches and the media the chance to vote for the world's best player.

Control of the award will return to French publication France Football after the contract signed between both organizations expired with no agreement in place for an extension.

Voting will now be restricted to solely journalists to decide the world's best player.

The original Ballon d'Or was created in 1956, coinciding with the foundation of the European Champion Clubs' Cup - now known as the Champions League.

FIFA will have to reconsider the whether or not to reintroduce the now defunct FIFA World Player award.

The award was distributed between 1991 and 2009 through votes from national team coaches and captains from all of the association members.