The organizers of the Ballon d’Or awards, France Football, will officially release the 30-player nominee list and voting deadline to its global panel of journalists in August 2026.
However, fans and pundits already know some of the prominent names that will make the cut.
The evaluation period for the 2026 award is from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026 and many players have made their mark during this time.
Here is definite top three for the award this year in no particular order:
- Lamine Yamal: Yamal, who is only 19, could become the youngest player in history to win the Ballon d’Or. The Barcelona winger won the LaLiga title last season and then conquered the world with Spain.
- Kylian Mbappe: There is no player in history that has more World Cup goals than Mbappe. The Real Madrid forward scored 10 goals at this year’s tournament to win the Golden Ball, in addition to his Pichichi award from LaLiga.
- Harry Kane: No footballer in the world scored more club goals during the 2025–26 season than Kane. The England captain found the back of the net a staggering 61 times for Bayern Munich, as they dominated German football yet again, cruising to Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal success.