Absence of Raphinha and Flick the biggest shocks: the full list of nominees for the 2026 Ballon d'Or awards

France Football, working alongside UEFA, unveiled the official candidates for the 2026 Ballon d'Or on Tuesday. The award ranks as the most prestigious individual prize in football, and it follows an exceptional season of fierce competition between the game's biggest stars at both collective and individual level.

The announcement also served up a string of eye-catching surprises. Chief among them was the absence of Brazilian Raphinha from the best player shortlist despite his standout campaign with Barcelona, along with his Spanish team-mates Pedri and Dani Olmo. Bigger still in the women's category was the exclusion of Spain's Aitana Bonmatí, winner of the Ballon d'Or in each of the last three editions.

Another shock came in the best coach category, where Barcelona boss Hansi Flick failed to make the cut. The lists pointed to a fierce battle across every category ahead of the ceremony in London on 26 October.

The awards in the order of announcement

Proceedings began with the award for the best club in the women's category, revealing the first candidate: Barcelona, champions of La Liga and the Champions League. They face Champions League runners-up Bayern Munich, England's Manchester City and France's Lyon.

Next came the award for the best men's team, starting with Arsenal, Premier League champions and Champions League runners-up. Their rivals are Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, Norway's Bodø/Glimt, Brazil's Flamengo and France's Paris Saint-Germain.

Five names are in contention for the world's best coach for women's teams: Jonatan Giráldez "Lyon", Andrée Jeglertz "Manchester City", Nils Nielsen "Japan national team", Pere Romeu "Barcelona", Elena Sadiku "Celtic/BK Häcken".

Spanish coaches dominated the nominations for the world's best coach for men's teams, with a quintet made up of Mikel Arteta "Arsenal", Luis de la Fuente "Spain national team", Unai Emery "Aston Villa", Luis Enrique "Paris Saint-Germain", plus Belgian Vincent Kompany "Bayern Munich".

Missing out were big names such as Germany's Hansi Flick, Spain's Pep Guardiola and Argentines Diego Simeone and Lionel Scaloni.

Contenders for the world's best goalkeeper for 2026 included Germany's Ann-Katrin Berger, Spain's Cata Coll, England's Hannah Hampton, Brazil's Lorena and Japan's Ayaka Yamashita.

The list for the world's best goalkeeper award (the Lev Yashin Trophy) included Spain's Juan García, Morocco's Yassine Bounou, Belgium's Thibaut Courtois, Argentina's Emiliano Martínez, Switzerland's Gregor Kobel, Senegal's Édouard Mendy, Spain's David Raya and his compatriot Unai Simón, Cape Verde's goalkeeper Vozinha, and Russia's Safonov.

Two Arab stars, Morocco's Ayoub Bouaddi and Algeria's Ibrahim Maza, join eight prominent names in the race for the Kopa Trophy for the world's best young player.
Alongside Bouaddi and Maza, the list features Bosnia's Kerim Alajbegović, Spain's Pau Cubarsí, Ivory Coast's Yan Diomande, Germany's Lennart Karl, France's Elie Junior Kroupi, Spain's Lamine Yamal, Switzerland's Johan Manzambi and France's Warren Zaïre-Emery.

Then came the shock. Organisers revealed the 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or for the world's best player, and the name of Spain's Aitana Bonmatí, winner in each of the last three years, was nowhere to be found.

The 30 players were: Selma Bacha, Barbra Banda, Klara Bühl, Esmee Brugts, Mariona Caldentey, Scarlett Camberos, Kerstin Casparij, Temwa Chawinga, Cata Coll, Melchie Dumornay, Caroline Graham Hansen, Alex Greenwood, Patri Guijarro, Pernille Harder, Yui Hasegawa, Rose Lavelle, Mapi León, Lorena, Melvine Malard, Manaka Matsukubo, Vivianne Miedema, Ewa Pajor, Claudia Pina, Alexia Putellas, Wendie Renard, Alessia Russo, Khadija Shaw, Momoko Tanikawa, Caroline Weir, and Tessa Wullaert.

That left the biggest list of all, the contenders for the Ballon d'Or for the world's best player.

The award's account announced the names separately, and we bring them to you in turn:

The list of candidates:

Jude Bellingham, Marc Cucurella, Pau Cubarsí, title-holder Ousmane Dembélé, Bruno Fernandes, Luis Díaz, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Magalhães, Achraf Hakimi, Harry Kane, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lamine Yamal, Sadio Mané, Marquinhos, Kylian Mbappé, Lautaro Martínez, Michael Olise, Willian Pacho, João Neves, Julián Quiñones, Rodri, Nuno Mendes, Vinícius Júnior, Declan Rice, Lionel Messi, Fabián Ruiz, Ferran Torres, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba, Vitinha.

Heavyweight names dropped out, chief among them Brazil's Raphinha and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, plus Spaniards Pedri and Dani Olmo.

A committee of sports journalists from across the globe votes for the Ballon d'Or, handed out each year to the world's best player. The winner is chosen on several criteria, most notably individual and collective performance, sportsmanship and consistency across the season.

London will stage the ceremony on 26 October 2026 for the first time in the award's history. The night will crown the Ballon d'Or winner and reveal the rest of the individual honours, including the "Yashin" award for the best goalkeeper, the "Kopa" award for the best young player, the best coach, the best club and a number of other prizes.

Global attention descends on the Ballon d'Or every year as the definitive measure of the world's best player. Public and media interest runs high, sharpened by the intensifying scrap between football's biggest stars for the most precious individual prize of all.

You can discuss the topics and news in greater depth in the "Kooora" forums