Ballon d'Or 2026: London Hosts the 70th Gold Ball Ceremony Tonight
The Ballon d'Or, football's oldest individual prize, is handed out tonight in London. The 70th ceremony starts at 7pm GMT, and The Guardian is running live updates from the event.
The award goes to the player judged the best of the year. Its name is French for "Golden Ball", and the winner receives a gold trophy shaped like a ball. This year the ceremony is held at The London Palladium, a theatre in the city's West End. It is the first time London has hosted the award, according to Reuters.
The choice of city has a link to the award's history. UEFA, which runs the prize, said London was picked to honour Stanley Matthews, the English winger who was the first ever winner.
Three names have been linked with the top prize this year. Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé are all in contention, according to Yahoo Sports and the official Ballon d'Or website. Kane is the England and Bayern Munich striker. Yamal is the Barcelona winger who has been one of the most talked-about young players in Europe. Mbappé, the France forward, has been among the game's leading goalscorers for years.
Who votes matters as much as who plays well. The vote involves one journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA world rankings, the men's international table that places national teams by recent results. That spreads the judgement across the world game, not just the biggest leagues.
Fans who cannot make it to London can watch the ceremony online. It streams on the Ballon d'Or website and on DAZN, a sports streaming service. The event is also listed for 3pm Eastern Time in the United States, which is the same moment as 7pm in London.
For the people in the room, this is a night that brings together players, coaches and writers who rarely share a stage. For everyone else, it is a chance to see who the voters back, and to argue about it afterwards. The result will be decided in one evening, and it will be talked about for much longer than that.
