LIVE 2026 Ballon d'Or updates: Winners, results, reaction

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5hGabriele Marcotti

5hJoe Lowery

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8hJeff Kassouf

Oct 26, 2026, 02:00 PM ET

Welcome to our live coverage of the 2026 Ballon d'Or awards!

The biggest night in world soccer is here, as the game's brightest stars gather at the London Palladium for the 70th edition of the Ballon d'Or ceremony. All eyes will be on the men's award, where Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé are among the leading contenders for soccer's most prestigious individual honor.

Meanwhile, eight-time winner Lionel Messi is also in contention, along with defending champion Ousmane Dembélé.

On the women's side, Alexia Putellas, Ewa Pajor and Melchie Dumornay are among the contenders looking to claim the prize won by Aitana Bonmatí for the last three years. Elsewhere, several other honors will be handed out throughout the evening, including the awards for the best young players, goalkeepers, coaches and clubs in men's and women's soccer.

Stay with us as we bring you all the latest updates, reactions and winners from London.

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Summary

By

James Tyler

17:43 UTC

Pinned

This is it! It's Ballon d'Or time!

PSG's Ousmane Dembele holds the trophy he won in 2025. Who will claim it this time around? (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images)

It's here! Monday night in London will see the biggest individual prizes in world soccer handed to a pair of deserving winners: the 2026 Ballon d'Or and the 2026 Ballon d'Or Femenin are both up for grabs at the Palladium.

The front-runners for the men's award: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/England), Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid/France) and Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain), though we presume Erling Haaland (Man City/Norway) is also in the mix.

On the women's side, it's Alexia Putellas (London City Lionesses/Spain), Ewa Pajor (Barcelona/Poland), Melchie Dumornay (Lyon/Haiti) and Khadija "Bunny" Shaw (Man City/Jamaica), but only one can be victorious.

We will cover all the fun here as the event unfurls, and with coverage of the night's other awards, including men's and women's Goalkeeper of the Year, the men's and women's Clubs of the Year, Young Talent of the Year, Coach of the Year and so much more.

By

James Tyler

18:06 UTC

Ballon d'Oh! Official website shows a little too much

We're still hours from the official announcement of the 2026 Ballon d'Or, but the official award website has prematurely published winner's articles about the top three contenders.

Glowing recaps of how Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal each won the coveted prize appeared on ballondor.com before being hastily retracted. As folks who work in digital media, our hearts go out to those webmasters and their itchy publish fingers....

By

James Tyler

17:51 UTC

WOMEN'S RANKINGS (updated in real time)

Equally, we'll keep an eye on the Ballon d'Or Femenin rankings as they are slowly released leading up to tonight's main event...

1. Tied-28th: Viviane Miedema (MF/FW, Man City), Melvine Malard (FW, Chelsea), Lorena (GK, Kansas City Current)
2. 27th: Rose Lavelle (MF, Gotham FC)
3. 26th: Alex Greenwood (DF, Man City)
4. 25th: Caroline Weir (MF/FW, Lyon)
5. 24th: Kerstin Casparij (DF/MF, Man City)
6. 23rd: Momoko Tanikawa (MF, Bayern Munich)
7. 22nd: Manaka Matsukubo (FW, Chelsea)
8. 21st: Scarlett Camberos (FW, Club America)
9. 20th: Selma Bacha (DF/FW, Lyon)
10. 19th: Tessa Wullaert (FW, Como)
11. 18th: Barbra Banda (FW, Orlando Pride)
12. 17th: Esmee Brugts (MF, Barcelona)
13. 16th: Mapi Leon (DF, London City Lionesses)
14. 15th: Cata Coll (GK, Barcelona)
15. 14th: Wendie Renard (DF, Lyon)
16. 13th: Mariona Caldentey (MF, Arsenal)
17. 12th: Klara Buhl (FW, Bayern Munich)
18. 11th: Yui Hasegawa (MF, Man City)

By

James Tyler

17:48 UTC

MEN'S RANKINGS (updated in real time)

While we wait for the pomp and circumstance to truly kick in, France Football magazine has been publishing the bottom end of the 30-player shortlists in order of finish. We'll keep adding names here as they are announced leading up to the big reveal.

1. Tied-29th: William Saliba (DF, Arsenal), Sadio Mane (FW, Al-Nassr)
2. 28th: Julian Quinones (FW. Al-Qadsiah)
3. 27th: Bruno Fernandes (MF, Man United)
4. 26th: Dayot Upamecano (DF, Bayern Munich)
5. 25th: Marquinhos (DF, PSG)
6. 24th: Luis Diaz (FW, Bayern Munich)
7. 23rd: Nuno Mendes (DF, PSG)
8. 22nd: Lautaro Martinez (FW, Inter Milan)
9. 21st: Gabriel (DF, Arsenal)
10. 20th: Willian Pacho (DF, PSG)
11. 19th: Joao Neves (MF, PSG)
12. 18th: Marc Cucurella (DF, Real Madrid)
13. 17th: Vinicius Junior (FW, Real Madrid)
14. 16th: Ferran Torres (FW, PSG)