Only 20 African countries are eligible to vote for the winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or award.
This is because they are among the top 100 countries in the FIFA world rankings, which determine the award’s international jury.
The 2026 regulations stipulate that the FIFA ranking in effect when the voting lists were published on September 8 was used to determine the jury.
Each journalist will select and rank 10 players from the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees.
The player ranked first receives 15 points, followed by 12, 10, eight, seven, five, four, three, two and one point for the 10th choice.
The African countries that are among the top 100 include:
Morocco — 6th in FIFA ranking
Senegal — 18th
Egypt — 24th
Nigeria — 26th
Algeria — 29th
Côte d’Ivoire — 31st
DR Congo — 41st
Cameroon — 43rd
Mali — 53rd
South Africa — 54th
Tunisia — 57th
Burkina Faso — 62nd
Cabo Verde — 64th
Ghana — 65th
Guinea — 81st
Gabon — 84th
Angola — 87th
Uganda — 89th
Zambia — 90th
Benin — 94th
The other 80 countries in the top 100 are from Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania.