The battle has been raging fiercely across the globe since the shortlist of three was announced. Some say Andres Iniesta, a few more back Cristiano Ronaldo, while the majority are firmly in the camp of the three-time winner Lionel Messi.
But tucked away in the basement of a 400-year old family-run Paris jewellers a six-a-side team are quietly beavering away making exactly what it is the world of football is fighting over.
Golden balls: The world's oldest jewellers have a team of six working on the Ballon d'Or trophy
The Ballon d'Or trophy, a brass football dipped in gold, resting on a rocky base of pyrite, has remained largely the same since the original awards ceremony in 1956, won by Englishman Sir Stanley Matthews.
'It's something we're happy be a part of,' Francois Mellerio, who along with his brother Olivier are the 14th generation to run the firm, told AFP.
The jewellers currently employs 12 artisans at its store on Rue de la Paix, six of whom have worked on this year's trophy.
Piece by piece: The same family-run store in Paris have built the trophy every year since 1956
Using a real football as a guide, the masters of their art weld two brass disks together and painstakingly chisel the seam lines by hand.
It is then engraved with the award logo and dipped in gold before being attached to the base, which Mellerio explains is the unique part of the design.
'No two rocks are identical, no two emeralds, no two rubies – there's always a difference, that's nature,' he said.
Previously, the jewellers, who also craft the Musketeers' Trophy for the men's singles champion at the French Open, would be given the name of the winner before the big night. Now, though, plaques are engraved with all three names before being attached at the last minute.
Craftsman: All the finishing touches are applied by hand... but who will get their hands on the trophy?
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Andres Iniesta
The 2012 gong is to be handed out in the first week of next year at a special gala evening celebrating the great and good of the last 12 months.
Barcelona's Messi, whose triumph last year put him on a par with Michel Platini with three, is hot favourite again this time around, though the argument is strong for both team-mate Iniesta and Real Madrid's Ronaldo.
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