2026 Ballon d'Or Live: Who will claim soccer's top individual awards?

The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony is underway at the London Palladium theatre. Follow along for live updates as soccer's most prestigious individual accolades are handed out to the game's biggest stars.

Jump to: Possible leak | Ballon d'Or rankings | Young Player | Top Coach | Best Goalkeeper

Best striker

Men's winner: Harry Kane 🏆
Women's winner: Charlyn Corral 🏆

The Gerd Muller Trophy is the lone award of the evening that doesn't require any voting.

Kane, who'll be hoping this isn't the only piece of hardware he takes home tonight, scored an unbelievable 73 goals for club and country in 2025-26, including 61 in just 51 matches for Bayern Munich.

Corral, 35, continued to find the net with stunning regularity for Pachuca. The Mexican striker scored 22 regular-season goals in the Apertura 2025, breaking her own Liga MX Femenil record, and recorded 13 tallies for her national team.

Club of the Year

Men's winner: PSG 🏆
Women's winner: Barcelona 🏆

No surprises here.

PSG took home the award for the best men's club of 2026 after defending their Champions League title in dramatic fashion, giving the French outfit consecutive triumphs in this category. French star Ousmane Dembele, last year's Ballon d'Or winner, accepted the trophy on behalf of his team.

Meanwhile, after a brief interlude, Barcelona are back on top of the women's game. The Catalan side was named the best women's team of the year after capturing a quadruple of trophies, including the Women's Champions League. Barca have now captured this honor on the women's side in three of the last four years, with only Arsenal's triumph in 2025 breaking their streak.

Socrates Award

Winner: Bukayo Saka 🏆

The Socrates Award is named after the legendary Brazilian midfielder and recognizes the humanitarian work of players or groups within the sport. It was introduced in 2022.

Saka also put on a show off the field last season. The Arsenal winger was honored Monday for his work with multiple charities that provided medical care and humanitarian aid for children and families in need in London and around the world.

Best Goalkeeper (Yashin Trophy)

Men's winner: Unai Simon 🏆
Women's winner: Cata Coll 🏆

Spain dominates yet another category.

Simon was named the men's Goalkeeper of the Year after starting for Spain at the 2026 World Cup. The Athletic Club veteran helped La Roja build a near-perfect defensive system in North America, notably making an impact with the ball at his feet, too.

Barcelona 'keeper Coll dethroned 2024-25 winner Hannah Hampton to win the women's Goalkeeper of the Year honors this year. She was a key figure in Barca's trophy-laden 2025-26 campaign.

Coach of the Year

Men's winner: Luis de la Fuente 🏆
Women's winner: Pere Romeu 🏆

De la Fuente was named Coach of the Year after building a spectacular Spain team that won the 2026 World Cup in dominant fashion. La Roja's methodical and balanced team went unbeaten in North America in the summer, winning seven of their eight games while allowing just one goal.

Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique were arguably De la Fuente's biggest threats for the men's Coach of the Year award. Arteta helped Arsenal end their Premier League title drought, while Luis Enrique led Paris Saint-Germain to a second Champions League title. However, De la Fuente's impeccable season in international soccer spoke louder. Unai Emery (Aston Villa) and Vincent Kompany (Bayern Munich) were also nominated.

On the women's side, Romeu was recognized as the game's best tactician after helping Barcelona win four trophies during the 2025-26 season, including the Champions League. He beat out Jonatan Giraldez (OL Lyonnes), Andree Jeglertz (Manchester City), Nils Nielsen (Japan), and Elena Sadiku (Celtic and BK Hacken). Sadiku was the lone female coach among the five nominees; the award recognizes the best coach in women's football, and not necessarily the best female coach.

Best Young Player (Kopa Trophy)

Men's winner: Lamine Yamal 🏆
Women's winner: Vicky Lopez 🏆

It's a sweep for Barcelona and Spain. Again.

Yamal, 19, is a strong candidate to become the first teenager to win the Ballon d'Or, so it only makes sense for him to take the Kopa Trophy as the world's best soccer player under 21 years of age again. Yamal has won this award in the last three seasons. He continues to dominate at Barcelona and was also part of Spain's World Cup-winning run.

Yamal beat out several young stars for the 2026 Young Talent of the Year award, including Barcelona and Spain teammate Pau Cubarsi. The stud center-back put on a show as a cornerstone of a stellar La Roja defense that allowed only one goal in eight World Cup matches in the summer.

Vicky Lopez also defended her title, winning the women's Kopa Trophy for a second straight year. The 20-year-old attacker stood out while helping Barcelona achieve a historic quadruple in 2025-26.

Ceremony underway

The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony is officially underway.

Originally scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, the event was delayed by 30 minutes, reportedly due to heavy traffic in London.

Men's Ballon d'Or rankings

Before the show officially began in London, the nominees who finished outside the top 10 in men's Ballon d'Or voting - from 30th to 11th - were revealed by France Football, which oversees the award ceremony.

Here are the rankings so far for the 70th edition of the men's Ballon d'Or:

That means we know the 10 finalists still in contention for the coveted individual accolade.

• Ousmane Dembele (France and PSG)
• Erling Haaland (Norway and Manchester City)
• Harry Kane (England and Bayern Munich)
• Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia and PSG)
• Lamine Yamal (Spain and Barcelona)
• Kylian Mbappe (France and Real Madrid)
• Lionel Messi (Argentina and Inter Miami)
• Michael Olise (France and Bayern Munich)
• Rodri (Spain and Barcelona)
• Fabian Ruiz (Spain and PSG)

The most wide-open Ballon d'Or race in years has seemingly coalesced around three main candidates in the buildup to the big day: Kane, Mbappe, and Yamal.

The prolific England captain scored 73 goals for club and country in 2025-26, the French superstar established a new record for most goals in World Cup history, and the Spanish phenom helped his country win the 2026 World Cup.

Don't forget about Lionel Messi either. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is back on the shortlist this year after his brilliant World Cup display nearly led Argentina to back-to-back titles.

Possible leak?

Organizers appeared to leak the potential result Monday ahead of the ceremony, with "winner" articles being prematurely published on the Ballon d'Or website - and swiftly removed - for each of Kane, Mbappe, and Yamal.

One for the conspiracy theorists to have fun with.

Other awards still to come ...

Women's Ballon d'Or

Spanish superstar Aitana Bonmati, who suffered a broken leg last year, wasn't nominated after an injury-marred season, ending her streak of three consecutive triumphs in this category.

Alexia Putellas, her compatriot and former Barcelona teammate, is in contention to capture the award for the third time in her own sparkling career.

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