Following the official announcement of the 2026 Ballon d'Or nominee list, attention is once again turning to the behind-the-scenes process and precise mechanism governing football's most important individual award, which will be presented in London later this October.
اضافة اعلان
The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony will be held in London on Monday, October 26. The ceremony will honor the late English legend Stanley Matthews, the first-ever winner of the award, 70 years ago.
The nominee list includes 30 players recognized for their performances during the 2025-2026 season. Prominent stars leading the pack include young Spanish sensation Lamine Yamal, France's Kylian Mbappé, Norway's Erling Haaland, alongside England's Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
How Are Nominees Chosen?
According to American sports outlet The Athletic, the initial list isn't chosen at random; it undergoes careful evaluation by specialized experts. Committees made up of journalists from French outlets France Football and L'Équipe, alongside former players and coaches selected by UEFA, are responsible for narrowing the field down to the final list of 30 nominees.
These experts base their evaluation exclusively on performance during the concluded football season (2025-2026), covering the period from August 3 to July 19, including continental and international tournaments held during that window.
Who Gets to Vote?
Once the shortlist is announced, the power to decide the winner shifts entirely to the global sports press, to ensure the highest possible degree of impartiality.
100 journalists representing the top 100 countries in FIFA's men's rankings take part in the vote for the men's award, while 50 journalists from the top 50 countries in the women's rankings vote for the women's award.
Voting has been limited to the top 100 countries since 2022, to avoid "odd" or unjustified votes that had occasionally come from countries ranked further down the football rankings.
How Points Are Distributed
Each journalist is asked to select 10 players from the 30-player shortlist and rank them in descending order. Points are awarded according to a strict scale:
1st place: 15 points
2nd place: 12 points
3rd place: 10 points
Points then taper down progressively (8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2) to just 1 point for 10th place.
The player who accumulates the highest total points across all 100 journalists' votes is crowned Ballon d'Or winner. In the very rare case of a tie in total points, the tiebreaker goes to whoever received more "1st place" votes.
Ballon d'Or Voting Criteria
Voting journalists are asked to adhere to three core criteria when casting their votes:
Individual performance: How decisive the player's impact was in their team's matches.
Collective achievements: The titles and trophies the player helped win with their club and national team.
Fair play: Sportsmanlike conduct, on-field demeanor, and clean play.
Despite these criteria, voting ultimately remains subject to each journalist's personal judgment, which explains why debate over the winner's identity persists with every edition, such as the controversy over Messi's win at Lewandowski's expense in 2021, or Pavel Nedvěd's triumph over Thierry Henry in 2003.
