Football
Ballon d'Or 2026 - Who votes for the winner and what is the criteria?
Watch the Ballon d'Or live and free on DAZN
Next month, football's biggest individual prize will be handed out as the 2026 Ballon d'Or for both men and women is decided.
Hosted in London on October 26th and broadcast live on DAZN, this year's award is the most open race in years, with several huge names in the running to lift the famous Golden Ball.
So, how will the award be decided? DAZN News takes you through how the voting system works for the prestigious Ballon d'Or gong.
Who votes for the Ballon d'Or winners?
The Ballon d'Or votes are decided by a selected jury, all of whom are journalists selected from the top 100 FIFA nations, with one from each nation.
For the women's award, there are 50 jurors, and each ranks their top 10 players from the nominated list in descending order.
Once they have voted for their top ten, points are awarded to each player as follows.
- First place: 15 points
- Second place: 12 points
- Third place: 10 points
- Fourth place: 8 points
- Fifth place: 7 points
- Sixth place: 5 points
- Seventh place: 4 points
- Eighth place: 3 points
- Ninth place: 2 points
- Tenth place: 1 point
Those points are then calculated, and the winner with the most points is awarded the Ballon d'Or. In the event of a tie, the trophy would go to the player with the most first-place finishes.
What period are the jurors judging? Getty Images
The award has no recent bias, as it should be judged on the previous European season, a format that has been in place since 2022.
Therefore, for this year's award, only performances between August 3, 2025 and July 19, 2026 are to be taken into account, apart from the Women's AFCON in August, which has been allowed to be included.
Each player is judged on three criteria.
- Individual performances
- Collective performances and titles won
- Class and fair play
Who has been nominated for the 2026 award?
There have been 30 players nominated for the men's and women's awards for 2026.
Men's Ballon d'Or contenders
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid and England)
- Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona and Spain)
- Marc Cucurella (Real Madrid and Spain)
- Ousmane Dembele (PSG and France)
- Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich and Colombia)
- Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United and Portugal)
- Gabriel (Arsenal and Brazil)
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City and Norway)
- Achraf Hakimi (PSG and Morocco)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich and England)
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG and Georgia)
- Lamine Yamal (Barcelona and Spain)
- Sadio Mane (Al Nassr and Senegal)
- Marquinhos (PSG and Brazil)
- Lautaro Martinez (Inter and Argentina)
- Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid and France)
- Nuno Mendes (PSG and Portugal)
- Lionel Messi (Inter Miami and Argentina)
- Joao Neves (PSG and Portugal)
- Michael Olise (Bayern Munich and France)
- Willian Pacho (PSG and Ecuador)
- Julian Quinones (Al Qadsiah and Mexico)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal and England)
- Rodri (Barcelona and Spain)
- Fabian Ruiz (PSG and Spain)
- William Saliba (Arsenal and France)
- Ferran Torres (PSG and Spain)
- Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich and France)
- Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid and Brazil)
- Vitinha (PSG and Portugal)
Women's Ballon d'Or contenders
- Selma Bacha (Lyon and France)
- Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride and Zambia)
- Klara Buhl (Bayern Munch and Germany)
- Esmee Brugts (Barcelona and Netherlands)
- Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal and Spain)
- Scarlett Camberos (America and Mexico)
- Kerstin Casparij (Manchester City and Netherlands)
- Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current and Malawi)
- Cata Coll (Barcelona and Spain)
- Melchie Dumornay (Lyon and Haiti)
- Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona and Norway)
- Alex Greenwood (Manchester City and England)
- Patri Guijarro (Barcelona and Spain)
- Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich and Denmark)
- Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City and Japan)
- Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC and USA)
- Mapi Leon (Barcelona and Spain)
- Lorena (Kansas City Current and Brazil)
- Melvine Malard (Chelsea and France)
- Manaka Matsukubo (Chelsea and Japan)
- Vivianne Miedema (Manchester City and Netherlands)
- Ewa Pajor (Barcelona and Poland)
- Claudia Pina (Barcelona and Spain)
- Alexia Putellas (London City Lionesses and Spain)
- Wendie Renard (Lyon and France)
- Alessia Russo (Arsenal and England)
- Khadija Shaw (Manchester City and Jamaica)
- Momoko Tanikawa (Bayern Munich and Japan)
- Caroline Weir (Lyon and Scotland)
- Tessa Wullaert (Como and Belgium)
Watch the Ballon d’Or live and for free on DAZN
Find out which two players will be crowned the best male and female players on the planet on Monday, October 26 at the Ballon d’Or awards. Watch exclusively worldwide live and FREE on DAZN (check for excluded territories).
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