Ballon d'Or 2026: History, Nominees and the Race for Football's Top Prize

What you need to know

• The ceremony: Monday 26 October at the London Palladium, 8pm BST, hosted by Thierry Henry and Kate Scott. It is the 70th edition and the first held outside France.
• The shortlist: 30 men, with 10 from Paris Saint-Germain. Lionel Messi is on it, Cristiano Ronaldo is not.
• The holders: Ousmane Dembélé won the men's award in 2025 and Aitana Bonmatí the women's award, but Bonmatí missed most of last season with a broken leg and is not nominated.
• The favourites: in early-October betting Lamine Yamal was narrowly ahead of Harry Kane. Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappé and several PSG players are also in the mix.

What is the Ballon d'Or?

The Ballon d'Or, French for Golden Ball, is awarded each year to the best footballer in the world. It has been presented by the magazine France Football since 1956, and it is now run together with UEFA and the newspaper L'Équipe. Over the years it has grown from a single prize into a full awards night, with a women's award, the Kopa Trophy for the best young player, the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper, the Gerd Müller Trophy for the top scorer, the Socrates Award for humanitarian work, and awards for the best clubs and coaches.

The award now covers a season rather than a calendar year. For the 2026 edition the men's window ran from 3 August 2025 to 19 July 2026, the date of the World Cup final.

A short history

The first winner, in 1956, was Sir Stanley Matthews of Blackpool, who finished ahead of Real Madrid's Alfredo Di Stéfano. Di Stéfano won the next year. The prize was originally given to the best player in Europe, was opened in 1995 to any player at a European club and in 2007 to players anywhere in the world.

Between 2010 and 2015 the award was merged with FIFA's own prize before the two split again. A women's Ballon d'Or was introduced in 2018. The record belongs to Lionel Messi, who has won eight, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo with five. In 2025, Ousmane Dembélé became the latest men's winner, and if he wins again he would be only the 11th man to take the trophy two or more times.

How the winner is chosen

A jury of journalists decides. Each of the top 100 nations in the men's FIFA ranking (top 50 for the women's award) has one voter, and each voter ranks 10 players out of a shortlist of 30 compiled by France Football and L'Équipe. Points are awarded on a sliding scale from first place down to tenth.

Voters are asked to weigh three things: individual performances and decisive impact, team performances and trophies, and class and fair play. If two players finish level on points, the one with more first-place votes wins, then second-place votes and so on.

The 2026 ceremony

The ceremony takes place at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October at 8pm BST, hosted by Thierry Henry and Kate Scott. London was chosen to honour Stanley Matthews, the English winner of the first award. It can be watched for free worldwide on DAZN and on the official Ballon d'Or website.

The men's nominees

Paris Saint-Germain, the French and European champions, have 10 of the 30 names: Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, João Neves, Willian Pacho, Fabián Ruiz, Vitinha and Ferran Torres. Bayern Munich have four (Luis Díaz, Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano), Real Madrid have four (Jude Bellingham, Marc Cucurella, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior), and Barcelona and Arsenal have three each. Barcelona's are Pau Cubarsí, Lamine Yamal and Rodri, Arsenal's are Gabriel Magalhães, Declan Rice and William Saliba.

The rest of the list is Erling Haaland of Manchester City, Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United, Lautaro Martínez of Inter, Sadio Mané of Al Nassr, Julián Quiñones of Al Qadsiah and Lionel Messi of Inter Miami. Messi is there after what The National calls a spectacular World Cup, while Cristiano Ronaldo does not appear on the list.

Who can win it?

The betting market gave a clear picture in early October. Lamine Yamal was the narrow favourite at about 10/11, with Harry Kane close behind at about 6/5. Voting had closed on 28 September, so those prices reflect how people think the 100 journalists voted rather than how the season is going now. Prices differ between bookmakers, and they are an estimate, not a result.

Kane has a strong case on numbers: his 73 goals for club and country make him the top scorer of the season and the Gerd Müller Trophy favourite. Yamal's case is his age and his influence at Barcelona. Beyond those two, Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappé and the PSG group, led by the holder Dembélé, are the other names to watch. One risk for PSG is that their 10 nominees can split the vote.

The other awards

On the women's side, 30 players are nominated, with Barcelona (six) and Manchester City (five) supplying 11 of them. Barcelona's Ewa Pajor is already set to win the Gerd Müller Trophy for the second year running. The men's Club of the Year shortlist is Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Bodø/Glimt, Flamengo and PSG, and the men's coach shortlist is Mikel Arteta, Luis de la Fuente, Unai Emery, Vincent Kompany and Luis Enrique.

The Yashin Trophy shortlist for goalkeepers includes Thibaut Courtois, David Raya, Joan García, Gregor Kobel, Emiliano Martínez and Matvey Safonov. The Kopa Trophy shortlist for the best young player includes Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Lennart Karl.