Kane, Yamal, Mbappe and Messi Among the Nominees for the 2026 Ballon d'Or

The shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or is out, and as happens every year, the debate is already in full swing before a single winner has been announced. Among the men's nominees are heavyweights like Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, while the women's list features big names such as Alexia Putellas, Mapi Leon, Khadija "Bunny" Shaw and Alessia Russo.

Before diving into predictions, it's worth revisiting exactly what we're talking about. The Ballon d'Or has been handed out since 1956 to the best soccer player of the season, and it remains, without question, the most important individual honor in the sport. Its women's counterpart, the Ballon d'Or Feminin, is much younger, first awarded in 2018.

How Is the Winner Chosen?

The process doesn't rely on a public vote or a closed panel of experts sitting around a table. Here's how it works: starting from the list of nominees, a jury of specialized journalists votes based on three criteria set by the award's own organizers: individual performance (with an emphasis on decisive, impressive play), team performance and trophies won, and finally class and fair play.

So who makes up that jury? In the men's category, one journalist is selected from each of the 100 top-ranked nations in the FIFA rankings; for the women's award, it's one from each of the top 50. Each journalist builds their own personal top 10 and distributes points proportionally, with first place on that list worth 15 points, for example. At the end, all the votes are tallied, and whoever has the most points takes home the trophy.

The Record Holders

When it comes to sheer numbers, nobody comes close to Messi: the Argentine has eight Ballons d'Or, a record no one has been able to touch so far. On the women's side, the dominant force in recent years is Aitana Bonmati, who won the award three years running: 2023, 2024 and 2025.

In fact, looking back at the women's roll of honor since its inception, a clear pattern emerges: Alexia Putellas opened the door by winning in 2021 and 2022, and Spain hasn't let go of the trophy since, with Bonmati claiming the next three editions. On the men's side, the latest name added to the list of champions was Ousmane Dembele in 2025, following Rodri's win in 2024 and Messi's own triumph in 2023.

The award's full history is long and spans entire generations: from Stanley Matthews in that very first 1956 edition, through legends like Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo Nazario, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi himself, all the way to the new generation now competing for the honor. Worth noting: the award wasn't handed out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the few gaps in a tradition now spanning seven decades.

With names like Yamal and Russo emerging among the younger candidates, this year's ceremony promises once again to weigh the value of a long career against the impact of an explosive single season. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the jury to crunch the numbers.