The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony will be held in London for the first time, with England captain Harry Kane currently the bookmakers' favourite to win the prestigious award. The event takes place on Monday, October 26 at the London Palladium in Soho.
Ceremony Details and Venue
Players are expected to arrive from around 6pm BST, with the ceremony itself getting under way at approximately 8pm. These timings are subject to change.
The ceremony usually takes place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, but this year it is temporarily moving to England to pay tribute to the 70th anniversary of Sir Stanley Matthews' victory in the inaugural Ballon d'Or race back in 1956.
Tickets and Nominees
Tickets for the ceremony were available through the UEFA website but have now all sold out, as have the hospitality packages.
The nominees for the latest edition of the golden annual prize presented by French magazine France Football were officially announced last month. The shortlist includes Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Rodri, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Declan Rice, William Saliba, and Ousmane Dembele, among others.
Favourite and Odds
Kane is the current favourite to claim his first Ballon d'Or award, following a phenomenal season with Bayern Munich in which his 61 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions powered the side to a domestic treble and earned him a second European Golden Shoe. He also played a vital role in England reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in North America, with the Three Lions eventually claiming third place.
Kane would be the first English winner of the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001 and only the fourth overall, joining Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Stanley Matthews and Kevin Keegan, who won twice in 1978 and 1979 while playing for Hamburg.
Hosts and Previous Winners
This year's ceremony will be hosted by journalist and presenter Kate Scott and Arsenal icon Thierry Henry, who finished as runner-up to Pavel Nedved for the award in 2003.
The trophy is currently held by PSG and France forward Ousmane Dembele, who beat Barcelona's Yamal - runner-up and Young Player of the Year in 2025 - last year. Barcelona and Spain superstar Aitana Bonmati has won the last three editions of the Ballon d'Or Feminin. Lionel Messi leads the all-time list with eight wins, three more than Cristiano Ronaldo, who has five, while Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer all won three each.
