Nominees, voting critieria, the judges, point scoring system, past winners, last England – Sky Sports has compiled everything you need to know ahead of the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony in London to mark the award’s 70th anniversary Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place in London for the first time ever on Monday October 26 – here is everything you need to know ahead of the event… Created in 1956 by two sports writers from France Football, a French magazine, the Ballon d’Or is the award given to the best men’s and women’s player in world football. France Football remain the organisers of the award and the voting but the ceremony is co-organised with UEFA, European football’s governing body. Initially, the prize was created to crown the best men’s player from Europe. In 1995, this was expanded to include non-Europeans playing on the continent before it became a global award in 2007.
The Women’s Ballon d’Or was introduced for the first time in 2018. Ada Hegerberg, who was playing for Lyon at the time, was the inaugural winner. This year’s ceremony marks the 70th anniversary of the Ballon d’Or and is taking place in London to pay tribute to the inaugural winner, England’s Stanley Matthews. The venue is the London Palladium theatre in Soho, with the ceremony beginning at 8pm.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Barcelona and Spain winger Lamine Yamal was odds-on to win this year’s men’s prize, but Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane has now taken his place as the bookies’ favourite. London City Lionesses and Spain star Alexia Putellas is the clear frontrunner for the women’s Ballon d’Or with her former Barcelona team-mates Ewa Pajor and Aitana Bonmati, the previous winner, closest behind her with the bookies. For the full list of nominess, go to the bottom of this page. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Players are judged for their performances over the entirety of last season from August 3 2025 until July 19 2026.
The Ballon d’Or is judged across three key criteria, in descending order of importance: The Ballon d’Or winners are voted for by “an international jury of specialised journalists”, according to the awards’ website. For the men’s prize, one journalist is selected to represent every country in the top 100 FIFA rankings, and for the women’s award it is one journalist for each nation in the top 50. This is based on the FIFA rankings in effect at the time, which in this instance is from September 8, 2026. Each “juror” picks 10 players from the 30-player shortlist in descending order of preference.
The shortlist is chosen by France Football’s editorial staff, members of L’Equipe’s editorial staff, one juror from the previous edition, and UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo and Fabio Capello for the men’s trophy and Nadine Kessler for the women’s trophy. The 10 players named by each voting journalist are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively. The Ballon d’Or is awarded to the player with the highest total number of points. If two players are equal on points, the number of first-place votes is used as a tie-breaker, and this will continue with second-place and third-place and so on if the tie persists.
Any dispute from the vote is settled by the editor-in-chief of France Football. Paris Saint-Germain and France star Ousmane Dembele is the reigning Ballon d’Or winner. The prize has gone to a different player in each of the last four editions, with Rodri, Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema taking home the golden ball. However, before that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the Ballon d’Or for 13 years save for 2018 when Luka Modric picked up the award.
Messi has won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times with his great rival Ronaldo the closest behind him on five. For 10 consecutive years, between 2008 and 2017, they were the only players to win the award. France legend Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985) is one of three players to win the Ballon d’Or three times along with Dutch duo Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. England’s Kevin Keegan, who died earlier this year aged 75, has won the award twice – one of five players to do so with Brazilian Ronaldo, Spain’s Alfredo Di Stefano and Germany duo Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rumenigge.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Kane is aiming to become the first Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or since 2001 and the fifth in history to take home the golden ball. Four players from England have won the Ballon d’Or: Matthews (1956), Sir Bobby Charlton (1966), Keegan (1978 & 1979) and Michael Owen (2001). The United Kingdom has had six winners in total, with Northern Ireland’s George Best (1968) and Scotland’s Denis Law (1964). Kane and Lamine Yamal have traded places as the bookies’ favourites for this year’s prize, which suggests the voting will be extremely close.
The closest runner-up under the current voting structure, which has been in place since 2016, was in 2019. Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk finished runner-up to Messi, losing by a seven-point margin. Messi came out on top of another closely fought battle in 2021, beating then Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski by 33 points. Lewandowski was widely expected to win the award the year prior before it was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2024, when Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior came second behind then-Man City midfielder Rodri, the difference was 105 points. This year, fans are being asked to vote for their ‘Ballon d’Or Of All Time’. So what is it? Well, anyone can log-in to the Ballon d’Or website to vote on which past winner they believe was the best.
However, they can only pick from one of the 10 players to have picked up the golden ball on at least two occasions. Those who pay the €1 fee to cast their vote will earn a chance at tickets to next year’s ceremony. The Ballon d’Or ceremony presents a number of awards beyond simply crowning the best men’s and women’s player of the season. In fact, there are six other prizes up for grabs: Men’s and Women’s Young Talent of the Year – First named the Kopa Trophy, this award celebrates the stand-out players under the age of 21.
The voting panel is made up of exclusively former Ballon d’Or winners, who cast a top-three vote (awarding 5,3 and 1 points). Men’s and Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year – Formerly known as the Lev Yashin Trophy, in honour of the only goalkeeper to ever win the Ballon d’Or, this prize is given to the best goalkeeper of the year. The voting system is the same as the Ballon d’Or trophies. Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year – Previously named the Johan Cruyff Trophy, in honour of the great Barcelona head coach, Men’s and Women’s Striker of the Year – Initially named the Gerd Muller Trophy, in tribute to the prolific Germany goalscorer, this prize is given to the player with the most goals in the past season in all competitive matches.
Men’s and Women’s Club of the Year – This award, according to the Ballon d’Or website, recognises “collective excellence, style of play, results exceeding expectations, and titles secured across the campaign”. The jury of journalists vote to decide the winner with number of Ballon d’Or nominees the tie-breaker in the event of a tie. Socrates Award – Inspired by Brazil legend Socrates, this prize is different from any of the others given out at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. It celebrates “humanitarian work, charity projects, and social solidarity initiatives” off the pitch.
Who is nominated for Men’s Ballon d’Or? Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid & England Pau Cubarsi – Barcelona & Spain Marc Cucurella – Chelsea/Real Madrid & Spain Ousmane Dembele – PSG & France Luis Diaz – Bayern Munich & Colombia Bruno Fernandes – Man Utd & Portugal Erling Haaland – Man City & Norway Achraf Hakimi – PSG & Morocco Harry Kane – Bayern Munich & England Kvicha Kvaratskhelia – PSG & Georgia Lamine Yamal – Barcelona & Spain Sadio Mane – Al Nassr & Senegal Lautaro Martinez – Inter & Argentina Kylian Mbappe – Real Madrid & France Nuno Mendes – PSG & Portugal Lionel Messi – Inter Miami & Argentina Joao Neves – PSG & Portugal Michael Olise – Bayern Munich & France Willian Pacho – PSG & Ecuador Julian Quinones – Al Qadsiah & Mexico Declan Rice – Arsenal & England Rodri – Man City/Barcelona & Spain Fabian Ruiz – PSG & Spain William Saliba – Arsenal & France Ferran Torres – Barcelona/PSG & Spain Dayot Upamecano – Bayern Munich & France Vinicius Jr – Real Madrid & Brazil Selina Bacha – Lyon & France Barbra Banda – Orlando Fire & Zambia Klara Buhl – Bayern Munich & Germany Esmee Brugts – Barcelona & Netherlands Mariona Caldentey – Arsenal & Spain Scarlett Camberos – Club America & Mexico Kerstin Casparij – Man City & Netherlands Temwa Chawinga – Kansas City Current & Malawi Cata Coll – Barcelona & Spain Melchie Dumornay – Lyon & Haiti Caroline Graham Hansen – Barcelona & Norway Alex Greenwood – Man City & England Patri Guijarro – Barcelona & Spain Pernille Harder – Bayern Munich & Denmark Yui Hasegawa – Man City & Japan Rose Lavelle – Gotham FC & USA Mapi Leon – Barcelona/London City Lionesses & Spain Lorena – Kansas City Current & Brazil Melvine Malard – Man Utd/Chelsea & France Manaka Matsukubo – North Carolina Courage/Chelsea & Japan Vivianne Miedema – Man City & Netherlands Ewa Pajor – Barcelona & Poland Caludia Pina – Barcelona & Spain Alexia Putellas – Barcelona/London City Lionesses & Spain Wendie Renard – Lyon/France Alessia Russo – Arsenal & England Khadija Shaw – Man City/Jamaica
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