France Soccer journal, working alongside UEFA, started on Tuesday to unveil the official listing of nominees for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, the most important and most coveted prize in world soccer. It follows an distinctive season of fierce competitors between the sport’s stars, each collectively and individually.
Months of monitoring and assessing performances with golf equipment and nationwide groups have gone into the ultimate listing. The award rewards what gamers delivered over the previous season, whether or not in titles received, particular person numbers or their technical influence on the pitch.
Final season served up loads of drama throughout the foremost European leagues, the Champions League and the 2026 World Cup. All of it has turned this 12 months’s race into one of the vital thrilling in current reminiscence, with a number of stars hitting placing heights.
One after the other, the award’s accounts began releasing the names of the nominees. We’ll preserve you up to date as quickly as every is printed.
First up got here the award for greatest membership within the ladies’s class, with the opening nominee Barcelona, champions of La Liga and the Champions League. They face Champions League runners-up Bayern Munich, England’s Manchester Metropolis and France’s Lyon.
Subsequent got here the award for greatest males’s crew, headed by Arsenal, Premier League champions and Champions League runners-up. Their rivals are Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, Norway’s Bodo/Glimt, Brazil’s Flamengo and France’s Paris Saint-Germain.
Within the class of greatest coach on the planet for ladies’s groups, the next names are competing: Jonatan Giraldez (Lyon), Andree Jeglertz (Manchester Metropolis), Nils Nielsen (Japan nationwide crew), Pere Romeu (Barcelona), Elena Sadiku (Celtic/BK Hacken).
Spain dominated the nominations for greatest coach on the planet for males’s groups. The quintet options Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Luis de la Fuente (Spain nationwide crew), Unai Emery (Aston Villa), Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain) and Belgium’s Vincent Kompany (Bayern Munich).
Some huge names missed out, amongst them Germany’s Hansi Flick, Spain’s Pep Guardiola and Argentina’s Diego Simeone and Lionel Scaloni.
The shortlist for greatest goalkeeper on the planet for 2026 named Germany’s Ann-Katrin Berger, Spain’s Cata Coll, England’s Hannah Hampton, Brazil’s Lorena and Japan’s Ayaka Yamashita.
For the award for greatest goalkeeper on the planet (the Lev Yashin Trophy), the contenders are Spain’s Joan Garcia, Morocco’s Yassine Bounou, Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois, Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez, Switzerland’s Gregor Kobel, Senegal’s Edouard Mendy, Spain’s David Raya and his compatriot Unai Simon, Cape Verde’s Vozinha and Russia’s Safonov.
The Ballon d’Or goes annually to the most effective participant on the planet, determined by a vote amongst sports activities journalists from throughout the globe. They weigh a number of standards, most notably particular person and collective efficiency, sportsmanship and consistency throughout the season.
This 12 months’s ceremony is ready for 26 October 2026 in London, a primary within the award’s historical past. The winner of the Ballon d’Or might be revealed alongside the remainder of the person honours: the Yashin award for greatest goalkeeper, the Kopa award for greatest younger participant, plus the prizes for greatest coach, greatest membership and several other others.
International consideration descends on the Ballon d’Or yearly because the definitive measure of the world’s greatest participant. The general public and media watch carefully, all of the extra in order the sport’s greatest stars combat for essentially the most treasured particular person honour of all.
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