The race for the 2026 Ballon d’Or has officially entered its decisive stage as the nominees for this year’s prestigious football awards are being unveiled.
The 70th edition of the Ballon d’Or will recognise outstanding individual and team performances from the 2025/26 football season, with the awards ceremony scheduled to take place in London on October 26, 2026.
The ceremony will be particularly historic because London is hosting the Ballon d’Or for the first time, with the event also marking the 70th anniversary of the award. The decision to stage the ceremony in England pays tribute to Stanley Matthews, the inaugural Ballon d’Or winner in 1956.
Major categories
The 2026 nomination process covers a number of prestigious awards, including:
- Men’s Ballon d’Or — 30 nominees
- Women’s Ballon d’Or — 30 nominees
- Men’s Young Talent of the Year — 10 nominees
- Women’s Young Talent of the Year — 5 nominees
- Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year — 10 nominees
- Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year — 5 nominees
- Men’s Coach of the Year — 5 nominees
- Women’s Coach of the Year — 5 nominees
- Men’s Club of the Year — 5 nominees
- Women’s Club of the Year — 5 nominees
The awards also include the Men’s and Women’s Striker of the Year categories and the Sócrates Award.
Clubs make their mark
Among the first major shortlists officially revealed are the nominees for Men’s Club of the Year.
The five nominated clubs are:
- Arsenal
- Bayern Munich
- Bodø/Glimt
- Flamengo
- Paris Saint-Germain
Arsenal are recognised after ending a long wait for the Premier League title and reaching the Champions League final. Bayern Munich are nominated following their Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal success, while PSG are again recognised after another highly successful campaign.
Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt earned recognition for their remarkable European campaign, while Brazilian giants Flamengo were nominated following major domestic and continental achievements.
Women’s Club of the Year nominees
The five nominees in the Women’s Club of the Year category are:
- FC Barcelona
- Bayern Munich
- Club América
- Manchester City
- OL Lyonnes
Barcelona enjoyed an extraordinary campaign, winning Liga F, the Copa de la Reina, the Spanish Super Cup and the Champions League. Bayern Munich also enjoyed a domestic treble, while Club América made history by winning the CONCACAF W Champions Cup. Manchester City secured a domestic league-and-cup double, while OL Lyonnes enjoyed another highly successful season.
Coaches also recognised
The Men’s Coach of the Year shortlist includes:
- Mikel Arteta
- Luis de la Fuente
- Unai Emery
- Vincent Kompany
- Luis Enrique
Arteta is recognised after leading Arsenal to the Premier League title and a Champions League final. De la Fuente is nominated after guiding Spain to World Cup glory, while Emery receives recognition after Aston Villa’s Europa League success.
Kompany’s nomination follows Bayern Munich’s domestic success, while Luis Enrique is again recognised following PSG’s continued dominance.
The Women’s Coach of the Year shortlist includes:
- Jonatan Giráldez
- Andrée Jeglertz
- Nils Nielsen
- Pere Romeu
- Elena Sadiku
Their nominations reflect significant achievements in club and international women’s football during the 2025/26 campaign.
Star players expected to dominate attention
The men’s Ballon d’Or race is expected to attract enormous attention, with established stars such as Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane, Ousmane Dembélé, Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland, Rodri, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham among the leading names associated with the award.
The official Ballon d’Or site had previously identified a number of established nominees within the leading European squads. Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Arsenal were among the clubs with significant numbers of players who had previously received Ballon d’Or nominations.
The final 30-player men’s shortlist is expected to be one of the most closely watched elements of the announcement.
Dembélé faces competition to retain the crown
Ousmane Dembélé enters the 2026 awards as the reigning men’s Ballon d’Or winner after claiming the prize in 2025.
Aitana Bonmatí is the reigning women’s winner, having won the women’s award in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Both will be under scrutiny as football fans wait to see whether they can retain their places among the leading contenders.
How the winner will be decided
The Ballon d’Or winner will not be determined simply by goals or individual statistics.
The voting system considers three principal factors: individual performances, team achievements and trophies, and the player’s class and fair play.
An international jury of specialist football journalists will vote. The men’s jury consists of representatives from the world’s top 100 men’s football nations, while the women’s award uses representatives from the top 50 nations in the women’s FIFA ranking.
Each journalist selects and ranks 10 players, with points awarded according to their positions. The player who accumulates the highest total will claim the award.
Historic London ceremony
The winners will be announced at the ceremony in London on October 26.
The event will mark the 70th edition of the Ballon d’Or and represents a significant departure from recent ceremonies, which were traditionally held at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet.
The London setting is intended to honour Stanley Matthews, who became the first Ballon d’Or winner in 1956.
With the nominees now being unveiled, attention will shift from who made the shortlist to who has the strongest case to become the next Ballon d’Or winner.
The biggest question now is whether the reigning champions can retain their crowns or whether a new generation of football superstars will take centre stage in London.