The Ballon d’Or, football’s most prestigious individual honour, will be awarded on Monday, with Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe among the frontrunners in the men’s category and Spain’s Alexia Putellas the favourite to pick the women’s award for the third time. Given to the best player of the 2025-26 season, the upcoming ceremony will mark the award’s 70th edition, and the first time it is held outside France. Ahead of Monday’s official gala, here’s everything to know about the award, its history and more: The Ballon d’Or is the highest individual award given to a footballer, based on his or her performance in the previous season.
The award was created in 1956 by two sports writers, Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, from France Football, a French magazine. Originally, the men’s award was limited to European players, but in 1995 it was expanded to include all players of any origin active at European clubs. Finally, in 2007, it became a global award with all professional footballers being eligible.
The women’s Ballon d’Or started in 2018 when Ada Hegerberg was named the inaugural winner. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Groupe Amaury – owners of France Football and L’Equipe – have co-organised the Ballon d’Or since the 2024 edition. The winner is chosen by an international jury of specialised journalists, with one representative per country: the top 100 nations according to the FIFA rankings for the men’s award, and the top 50 for the women’s award.
The FIFA ranking used is the one in effect at the time the nominee lists were published, which in this case was on September 8, 2026. Each jury member selects 10 players in descending order of merit from a 30-player shortlist. The list is then compiled by the editorial staff of France Football, members of L’Equipe’s editorial team, at least one member of the previous edition’s jury, and UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo and Fabio Capello for the men’s trophy, and Nadine Kessler for the women’s trophy.
The 10 selected players receive 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively, based on the order of their rankings in the voting. In the end, the Ballon d’Or is awarded to the player with the highest overall score. Players are judged for their performances over the whole of last season.
For this year’s award, the timeline is from August 3, 2025, until July 19, 2026. Jurors are asked to take three factors into consideration when ranking players. The Ballon d’Or regulations list the following in order of importance: In the men’s category, England’s captain Kane, who scored an incredible 73 goals last season, is the bookmakers’ favourite to win the Ballon d’Or.
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