Biases in Voting Behaviour of the Ballon d'Or 2013-2015

We found supporting evidence for the existence of the home bias and the regional bias. Chances of being selected were higher when the candidate shared the same nationality as the voter. We also found these results considering the regional bias. Being teammates also had a positive effect on the chance of getting the vote. We saw the same effects in the ordered probit, where the chance of being selected went up with the number of points (sharing the same nationality, continent or team gave you a higher chance on a higher score). When we separated the different voter groups, we also saw home and regional bias present in the voting behaviour of the different groups. We thus have found supporting evidence to suggest that there are voting biases present in the voting behaviour of the Ballon d’Or. However, we did not find any evidence of strategic voting.