It has been said that the winner is decided by 100 journalists each picking their top 10 players of the year. Is it possible that these journalists may be affected by some personal bias or patriotism? How objective is this award and is this deciding method really the best?
Before any manipulation can be possible there must be an amount for the bribe. Now, you need to calculate first how much the winner gets or how high the reward for winning the Ballon D Or that someone would want to perpetuate their way to winning the award. Then calculate that amount to 100 Journalists. What am saying in essence is that it will be difficult to manipulate all 100 Journalist. So I think the decision of the Journalist is fair. The method is better because they are not football representatives, they are more of the people's friends. The Jounralist are the people who keeps proper statistics of each player in the league or nominated.
Wining the 2024 Ballon d'Or is a priceless accomplishment. Players might be willing to give out a fortune to buy it if it has a price. Winning the award puts the player in the books of history as one of the greatest. The award could also bring more lucrative endorsement deals to the player which might even exceed the financial benefit the award offers. In summary, I think a desperate player will be willing to bribe all the journalists just to have the award but this is impossible because many of them cannot be bribed.