Essentially the most prestigious particular person honours in world soccer can be awarded in London tonight, with Harry Kane favorite to grow to be the primary English winner of the boys’s Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001.
Offered by journal France Soccer since 1956, it recognises the participant judged the very best on the earth throughout the earlier season. And since 2018, there was the equal prize for the ladies’s recreation. Right here’s all it’s worthwhile to find out about tonight’s ceremony…
Why is it in London?
Except 2010-2015, when Zurich took the honour, the Ballon d’Or ceremony is held in France – with the final seven years within the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. However this yr the Palladium in London’s West Finish will host – maybe omen for Kane. UEFA defined in Might that the selection of venue is symbolic in tribute to inaugural winner Stanley Matthews, who acquired his award at Blackpool City Corridor. Seventy years on, and having gathered a bit of extra glitz and glamour over the a long time, it returns to England.
Tonight’s present can be hosted by Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry for the primary time, alongside presenter Kate Scott, who returns for a fourth yr. The 45-year-old is greatest recognized for her work on Champions League nights at US community CBS Sports activities, the place she is an everyday host alongside pundits Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards.
Henry – who was nominated for the award 9 instances – mentioned: ‘London is town I name dwelling, and I’ve a deep connection to its soccer tradition and the passionate followers right here, so to be internet hosting right here alongside my pal and colleague Kate looks like a pure match.’
Kane is the bookies favorite to win the Ballon d’Or tonight after scoring 73 objectives in 65 video games
Kane is trying to grow to be the primary English winner of the award since Michael Owen in 2001
How is it determined?
For the boys’s and ladies’s awards a shortlist of 30 gamers is determined by journalists from each France Soccer and L’Equipe newspaper. This shortlist is then ranked by journalists from world wide – 100 for the boys’s, 50 for the ladies’s – with their rankings mixed to resolve the winner.
Jurors are instructed to contemplate these components: particular person performances and spectacular character; collective performances and titles gained; class and truthful play.
Who’s favorite for the principle awards, then?
HARRY KANE
Harry Kane has the very best likelihood of ending England’s 25-year watch for the boys’s Ballon d’Or, with the Three Lions captain the bookies’ favorite to take dwelling the award tonight. And for good motive. The 33-year-old loved a staggering yr, along with his 73 objectives in 65 matches bettered solely by Lionel Messi’s 79 objectives when he gained the prize in 2012. After his starring position towards Arsenal within the Champions League final week, Kane insisted he stays at nighttime as to his destiny tonight, a actuality that’s consuming away at his spouse, Katie. ‘I strive not to consider it. Clearly it’s laborious to not. There are at all times rumours flying round and also you attempt to steer clear of it,’ he mentioned. ‘I feel my spouse would like to know and my household… it is very disturbing for everybody.’
KYLIAN MBAPPE
Kane faces stiff competitors although, with Kylian Mbappe a detailed second among the many bookmakers tonight. Mbappe dazzled on the World Cup this summer season, the place he grew to become the all-time main goalscorer within the competitors’s historical past, with a complete of twenty-two. Nonetheless, his lack of silverware – each home and worldwide – this yr might rely towards the Frenchman.
‘There are various individuals that talk about me and the Ballon d’Or. In fact I’ve made historical past in an important competitors. Possibly it is a good yr for this however individuals can vote in line with what they suppose,’ he mentioned. ‘I at all times suppose I am the very best (participant on the earth) however everybody has their very own opinion.’
‘I at all times suppose I am the very best (participant on the earth) however everybody has their very own opinion,’ Mbappe mentioned of his personal prospects of successful the award
LAMINE YAMAL
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal carefully follows Mbappe and Kane within the odds. The 19-year-old has the very best trophy assortment of the highest three contenders – having gained the World Cup and LaLiga – however his subdued position in Spain’s triumph might rely towards the teen. Yamal’s numbers are dwarfed by Kane’s, too. He recorded 25 objectives and 20 assists throughout 57 appearances, though the Spaniard has argued that the award ought to go to soccer’s most entertaining star, not essentially the most medical one.
Like Mbappe, Yamal has been campaigning forward of the ceremony as he bids to grow to be the youngest-ever winner. ‘I feel the Ballon d’Or ought to go to the very best participant on the earth, full cease,’ he mentioned. ‘To not a participant who has scored 80 objectives, as a result of in case you rating 80 objectives, you get the highest scorer award for that. These are two utterly various things that folks don’t perceive.’ Whether or not Yamal wins the prize tonight or not, he’s definitely destined to take dwelling the accolade sooner or later throughout what guarantees to be a particular profession.
Different candidates: Lionel Messi, Rodri, Erling Haaland, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Girls’s Ballon d’Or
ALEXIA PUTELLAS
In the meantime, Alexia Putellas is on track to finish Aitana Bonmati’s three-year grip on the Ballon d’Or Feminin tonight. Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is out of the operating after struggling a fractured fibula final November, holding the famous person sidelined till Might. She helped information her facet to an historic quadruple however her efforts weren’t sufficient to make the shortlist this yr. With 24 objectives and 13 assists, Bonmati’s former Barca team-mate Putellas – who this summer season joined the London Metropolis Lionesses – led the best way within the midfielder’s absence and is the favorite to be recognised for her distinctive yr.
Different candidates: Ewa Pajor, Khadija Shaw, Pernille Tougher.
Putellas is on track to finish Aitana Bonmati’s three-year grip on the Ballon d’Or Feminin tonight
It’s not simply participant of the yr, proper?
The lads’s and ladies’s prize are the 2 most eye-catching on supply – PSG’s Ousmane Dembele gained it final yr for the primary time and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati landed the ladies’s crown for the third yr in a row.
However there are additionally 11 extra awards in a celebration of European soccer: males’s and ladies’s Kopa Trophy, for gamers underneath 21; the Yashin Trophy, for greatest goalkeeper, Gerd Muller Trophy for greatest striker, and Johan Cruyff Trophy for greatest coach.
There are additionally males’s and ladies’s awards for Membership of the 12 months – and a Socrates Award, first given out in 2022 and for a footballer’s humanitarian work.
Final yr that went to the Xana Basis, based by PSG boss Luis Enrique to assist households with kids dealing with critical diseases – the Enriques’ daughter Xana died in August 2019 after battling bone most cancers.
This yr may also see the addition of a brand new prize: the BOAT (Ballon d’Or of All Time). The organisers have been eager to emphasize that it isn’t an official award like those above nevertheless it has already prompted loads of debate on-line anyway.
Followers are being requested to log-in to the Ballon d’Or web site to vote on which previous winner they imagine was the very best. Nonetheless, they’ll solely decide from one of many ten gamers to have picked up the golden ball on no less than two events.
And those that pay the €1 price to forged their vote will earn an opportunity at tickets to subsequent yr’s ceremony.
This yr may also see the addition of a brand new prize: the BOAT (Ballon d’Or of All Time)
How one can watch
The ceremony can be free to observe on DAZN for UK viewers.
The Ballon d’Or’s official web site may also present stay updates.
Who our specialists are backing…
OLIVER HOLT: Harry Kane
His document with Bayern Munich has been astonishing, up there with the goalscoring feats of Messi and Ronaldo of their pomp. To hit 73 objectives, together with his England strikes, in a single season is the stuff of legend and he got here desperately shut, with Jude Bellingham, to main his nation to its first World Cup ultimate for 60 years. His closest challenger, Lamine Yamal, gained the World Cup with Spain and is a stellar expertise however didn’t have a ok match individually to dislodge Kane.
NATHAN SALT: Harry Kane
It must be Kane. I’m a type of that places a whole lot of inventory in successful the World Cup and Lamine Yamal, my runner up tonight, did that. However the objective totals are staggering, and for that motive it must be Kane lifting the award tonight. Kane gained his home league with Bayern Munich, gained the Tremendous Cup, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and completed third within the World Cup, turning into England’s all-time main World Cup scorer within the course of. His complete of 73 objectives final season blows his competitors out of the water. Yamal is an distinctive participant and can win a number of Ballon d’Or awards in his profession. This yr it is bought to be Kane, although.
Kane mentioned: ‘I feel my spouse would like to know and my household. It’s extremely disturbing for everybody’
IAN HERBERT: Harry Kane
For me, it may possibly solely be Harry Kane after a yr of such extraordinary supply: these 61 objectives in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich final season and the best ever objective tally by an Englishman in a single Champions League marketing campaign. That from a creator and initiator, who additionally builds a lot within the deeper-lying areas. The circumstances and stress underneath which you obtain should even be factored in and that’s what made his six objectives on the World Cup one thing fairly aside. Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal characteristic within the Ballon d’Or however they pale by comparability.
BOBBY MANZI: Harry Kane
It must be Harry Kane. Averaged over a objective a recreation and had a superb World Cup. One of the best goalscorer on the planet. It’s indeniable. He’s already claimed the European Golden Shoe and soccer’s most prestigious particular person award should observe.
Girls’s Ballon d’Or
TARA ANSON-WALSH: Alexia Putellas
The previous Barcelona captain’s legacy is already firmly safe with two previous wins on this competitors, and there is nothing getting in the best way of her clinching a record-equalling third tonight to affix her nationwide team-mate Aitana Bonmati. Aggrieved NWSL followers will proceed to deplore their lack of recognition at this ceremony, however the misalignment between the dates the award covers and the north Individuals’ season implies that the main target stays on Europe, and Putellas its queen. She captained Barcelona to a continental quadruple in 2025-26, clinching the Liga F, Copa de la Reina, Spanish Tremendous Cup and Champions League, and Bonmati’s absence from the competitors as a result of damage solely makes the tip outcome extra clear-cut.
