London Officially Announced as Host for 2026 Ballon d'Or Ceremony on October 26

The organizing committee for the Ballon d'Or award announced that the 2026 ceremony will be held in London on October 26, replacing Paris, which traditionally hosted the annual event.

This decision is exceptional and temporary, as the organizers chose to move the ceremony to England to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the award's launch and to honor its first winner in 1956, the late English star Stanley Matthews, who played for Blackpool FC.

Despite this change, observers do not rule out the possibility of the ceremony moving to other countries in the coming years, given the increasing global dimension of football's most prestigious individual award.

This is not the first time the Ballon d'Or ceremony has been held outside France. The Swiss city of Zurich previously hosted several editions between 2010 and 2015, during the partnership between FIFA and France Football magazine.

The 2026 ceremony follows the crowning of France's Ousmane Dembélé with the men's Ballon d'Or and Spain's Aitana Bonmatí with the women's award in the 2025 edition, which took place on September 22.

The ceremony date also returns to late October, aligning with the international match calendar, which runs between September 21 and October 6. This timing was previously adopted for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 editions.

The award will be presented to the best male and female players for the 2025-2026 season, taking into account all domestic, continental, and international competitions, including the UEFA Champions League, as well as the FIFA World Cup scheduled to be held between June 11 and July 19 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The winners are selected based on votes from a committee comprising 100 international journalists for the men's award, representing the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings, and 50 journalists for the women's award, representing the top 50 countries in the global rankings.