Overview
- France Football published the 30-man men’s Ballon d’Or shortlist Tuesday, listing nominees from across Europe and other award categories with the winners to be announced in London on October 26.
- Kylian Mbappé publicly said this is a “good year” to win the Ballon d’Or and then opened the scoring in Real Madrid’s 2-1 Champions League win over Inter Tuesday, moving to 71 UCL goals and into a tie with Raúl for fifth on the competition’s all-time scorers list.
- Paris Saint-Germain supply the most nominees with ten players while Real Madrid have four representatives, and Arsenal appear on the shortlist for Men’s Club of the Year after their strong 2025–26 campaign.
- Bookmakers and many outlets currently list Harry Kane among the favourites after his prolific 2025–26 season, with analysts weighing his goal totals against Mbappé’s World Cup record and club performances.
- Ballon d’Or voting is done by one journalist in each of the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries who rank their top 10, and the new 36-club Champions League league phase makes early UCL results more visible to voters in the run-up to October.