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Kane, Mbappe and Yamal headline 30-man shortlist for Ballon d'Or

Bayern Munich's Harry Kane
Bayern Munich's Harry KaneREUTERS / Angelika Warmuth

The Ballon d’Or top-30 shortlist has been revealed for this year as fans wait for the ceremony to start next month.

The ceremony, which takes place on Monday, October 26th in London, is the 70th edition and the move from Paris to the English capital is a tribute to Sir Stanley Matthews, the Englishman who won the inaugural Ballon d’Or in 1956.

As fans wait to see who will be awarded the prestigious trophy, the current favourites to be handed the award are Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Paris Saint-Germain's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele.

Last year it was Dembele who took home the prize and fans will be eager to see who will be picked as the latest player to be placed alongside some of the greatest names in football history.

Now, the list of 30 nominees have been named including a number of faces that have been nominated in the past but have never won such as Sadio Mane, Achraf Hakimi, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice.

Ballon d'Or 2026 nominees:

Jude Bellingham

Pau Cubarsi

Marc Cucurella

Ousmane Dembele

Luis Diaz

Bruno Fernandes

Erling Haaland

Gabriel Magalhaes

Harry Kane

Achraf Hakimi

Lamine Yamal

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Marquinhos

Sadio Mane

Lautaro Martinez

Kylian Mbappe

Nuno Mendes

Lionel Messi

Michael Olise

Joao Neves

Willian Pacho

Julian Quinones

Declan Rice

Rodri

William Saliba

Dayot Upamecano

Fabian Ruiz

Vinicius Junior

Vitinha

Ferran Torres