Ballon d'Or Nominees : Live Reveal Now

We are seeing so much love for our nominees across the socials. Incredible individuals. Remarkable clubs.

Not long to wait now before we turn to the shot-stoppers par excellence. The women between the sticks who exasperate opposition forwards and offer assurance to team-mates and fans alike.The nominees for the 2026 Women's Goalkeeper of the Year are imminent…

Before we arrive at that point, here’s a breakdown of the criteria for this category…

A LOT OF LOVE FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

LOT OF LOVE FROM @Mancitywomen

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Check all the names here !

Which former Ballon d'Or nominee would you rather spend your vacation with? Vote here!

Four Spaniards, one Belgian. Meet the five nominees for the 2026 Coach of the Year Trophy, men's category.

Luis replicated the huge success of 2024/25 with PSG by topping Ligue 1 and retaining the Champions League. Read how he did it below....

Luis Enrique

Vincent Kompany

Nobody questioned the Belgian’s managerial credentials when he moved to Bayern, but taking on such a behemoth was still undoubtedly a test of those credentials. He has passed with flying colours. Bayern are entertaining to watch but have retained their winning formula, attaining a Bundesliga title in 2025/26 and DFB-Pokal success. A classy defender in his day, and now a classy touchline technician.  

Unai Emery

Unai guided Aston Villa to a highly respectable fourth last season and then trumped even that by winning the Europa League, the club’s first major honour for three decades.

Luis de la Fuente

Luis was nominated in 2024 after winning the Euros. His is nominated again here after going one better and conquering the world this summer. La Roja conceded only once in 12 and a half hours of World Cup football in the Americas. That doesn’t just happen from possessing exceptional defenders. That’s a managerial master at work.

Mikel Arteta

Let’s unveil the nominees for the 2026 Men’s Coach of the Year Trophy

The fifth Spaniard to be nominated for this award since its inception. Do you know the other four? Let us know on our socials!

Mikel has overseen year-on-year improvement over seven years at the Emirates to the point where the Gunners ruled the roost last term, winning the Premier League and reaching the finals of the Champions League and League Cup.

Next up, we turn to the prestigious Men’s Coach of the Year category...

“As a manager you learn with your ears and not with your tongue.” – Terry Venables. The following five are clearly great listeners given the results they produce!

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SEE THE FULL RECAP HERE
One national-team manager, four club coaches: meet the five nominees for the 2026 Women’s Coach of the Year trophy

Pere Romeu is much deserving on such recognition. The affable Catalonian ironically began at Barcelona Femení working under Jonatan Giráldez. Now they are competing for the most prestigious individual honour. Since stepping into the spotlight Pere has orchestrated continued success for the Liga F giants.

Elena Sadiku

First the 32-year-old German guided Celtic to their first SWPL1 title then, after moving to BK Häcken a Women's Europa Cup triumph soon came.

Retiring from playing aged just 24, following a serious injury, Sadiku has carved out a highly impressive managerial career already.

Pere Romeu

A treasured quote from the much-missed Sir Bobby Robson, a great coach - "What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging."

Nils Nielsen

The 54-year-old from Greenland has exclusively coached in international football, for Denmark, Switzerland and latterly for Japan. He guided the Nadeshiko to a SheBelieves Cup last year and the AFC Women's Asian Cup in March, the nations third triumph in that tournament.

Andrée Jeglertz

The experienced Swede ended a decade of near-misses for Manchester City when he took them to a WSL title last May. The Blues also won the FA Cup, conceding only twice across the rounds.

Jonatan Giráldez

Let’s unveil the nominees for the 2026 Women’s Coach of the Year Trophy

Runner-up for this award in 2024 for six months apiece at Barcelona and Washington Spirit, his switch to OL Lyonnes brought further trophies for the Les Fenottes. The 34-year-old is said to model his coaching on Pep Guardiola.

Jonatan has guided Lyon to a remarkable 83.7% win rate during his time in France.

Test your knowledge !

Not long now before we turn to the coaches. The gaffers. The touchline grandmasters.

This October, Ballon d'Or returns to England, where it all began with the crowning of Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956. Read all about that golden time here.

Two of the nominated men's teams for 2026 - PSG and Bayern Munich - played out an engrossing Champions League clash last season. Check out our Battle for Europe quiz here!

Next up, Ballon d’Or honours five fantastic coaches who have excelled in women’s football across 2025/26.

Enjoy the video recap !

Read all about these fabulous high-achieving clubs on Ballondor.com. You can test out your footballing knowledge too by playing one of our many fun quizzes!

Can you guess how many times PSG has been nominated for this award? Let us know on our socials!

From Norway to Brazil, these five clubs defined the 2025-26 season. A beautiful mix of European giants and unexpected outsiders, meet the nominees for the Club of the Year Trophy.

PSG won this award last year after winning Ligue 1 and the Champions League. They’ve only went and did it again! Les Parisiens faced tough competition from Lens in the league and Arsenal in the Champions League final but prevailed in no small part due to possessing elite attacking talent.

Paris-SG

Mengão won the 2025 Copa Libertadores for the third time in six years. Filipe Luis’ side also claimed the Campeonato Brasileiro, narrowly beating out Palmeiras. In March they also won their 40th Campeonato Carioca, beating arch-rivals Fluminense on penalties in the final.

A Brazilian giant roared in 2025/26.

Flamengo

The Superlaget currently top their league but this well-deserved merit is all about their Champions League heroics in 2025/26, drawing with Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham before beating Atletico Madrid and Manchester City. The Norwegians then went on to beat Inter Milan home and away in their play-off.

Miscast as ‘underdogs’, they were a class apart.

Bodø/Glimt

Die Roten’s 5-4 Champions League semi-final loss to PSG will live long in the memory, a scintillating game of football for neutrals. There was also a 4-3 victory over Real Madrid and a 6-1 thrashing of Atalanta in that competition. It was thrills, spills and largely success, courtesy of Vincent Kompany’s methodology.

In the Bundesliga meanwhile they were superior throughout, losing only one game all season.

Bayern Munich

With Mikel Arteta’s transformation of the Gunners complete, they ended a 22 year wait for a Premier League title in May, before travelling to Hungary to take PSG all the way to penalties in the Champions League final.

Arsenal

Let’s unveil the nominees for the 2026 Men’s Club of the Year Trophy

Next up, Ballon d’Or recognises five clubs that surpassed the norm in men’s football across 2025/26.

A reminder. Here is an explanation of the criteria used to determine them….

Read the rules

Enjoy the video recap !

Jonatan Giráldez’s team won a domestic treble and came within 90 minutes of pulling off a remarkable quadruple, reaching the Champions League final. In France though, they dominated, scoring 3.4 goals per 90 in the Première Ligue.

OL Lyonnes

The Blues attained a league and cup double in 2025/26, the latter meaningful, the former somewhat of a holy grail in recent years after last winning the WSL in 2016. From that triumph on, they finished runner-up in the league on six occasions. Now they are immortal.

Manchester City

By winning the 2025–26 CONCACAF W Champions Cup, América became the first Mexican women’s football club to win a continental competition. The final was enthralling too, beating out Washington Spirit by five goals to three.

Las Águilas also secured the Campeón de Campeonas title in what was a highly successful year.

Club América

FC Bayern Munich Frauen won a domestic treble last season, triumphing in the DFB-Supercup, DFB-Pokal and the Bundesliga, the club’s seventh. They were undefeated in 32 domestic fixtures.

Bayern Munich

FC Barcelona Femení have won this award twice before – in 2023 and 2024 and finished runner-up in 2025. In 2025/26, Pere Romeu’s team won a remarkable quadruple, winning Liga F, Copa de la Reina, Supercopa de Espana, and of course the Champions League  

FC Barcelona

Let’s unveil the nominees for the 2026 Women’s Club of the Year Trophy

There is only one way to find out – follow our live feed here as the announcements are made in real time.

Very shortly we will turn our attention to five extraordinary women’s clubs who have all, in their own way, raised the bar of excellence in 2025/26.

Here is an explanation of the criteria used to determine our feted quintet…

Read the rules

Women’s Club of the Year, Men’s Club of the Year, Women’s Striker of the Year, Men’s Striker of the Year, Women’s Coach of the Year, Men’s Coach of the Year, Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year, Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year, Women’s Young Talent of the Year, Men’s Young Talent of the Year, Women’s Ballon d’Or, Men’s Ballon d’Or

Hello everyone, and welcome to the official unveiling of this year’s Ballon d’Or nominees. In what is the 70th year of the Ballon d’Or it is our honour to recognise and celebrate great achievements in the world of football across the 2025/26 season.

After weeks of anticipation the waiting is very nearly over! Who has made our prestigious shortlists in the following categories….