Ballon d'Or Regulations

Article 1. The Ballon d'Or and the votes are organized every year by the monthly magazine France Football. The ceremony itself is co-organized with UEFA.

Article 2. The Ballon d'Or rewards the best male and female player in the world, regardless of league or nationality.

Article 3. The reference period covers the entirety of last season, from August 3, 2025 to July 19, 2026, including international competitions (World Cup and AFCON for men; Asian Cup and the Nations League final phase for women). The Women's AFCON, which ended on August 16, will count toward the current season.

Article 4. The Ballon d'Or is awarded based on three criteria, in order of importance: 1. Individual performances, decisive and impressive character. 2. Collective performances and titles won. 3. Class and fair play.

Article 5. The Ballon d'Or is awarded by an international jury of specialized journalists, with one representative per country: the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings for the men's award and the top 50 for the women's award. The FIFA rankings used are those in effect at the time the lists are published, on September 8, 2026.

Article 6. Each juror names ten players in descending order of merit from a list of 30, drawn up by the France Football editorial staff, members of the L'Équipe editorial staff, at least one juror from the previous edition, and UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo and Fabio Capello for the men's trophy and Nadine Kessler for the women's trophy.

Article 7. The ten players named are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points respectively. The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the player with the highest total number of points.

Article 8. In the event of a tie, players are separated by the number of first-place mentions. If the tie persists, by the number of second-place mentions, then third-place mentions, and so on.

Article 9. Any dispute arising from the vote is settled by the Editor-in-Chief of France Football as organizer.

Published on 09/07/2026