France Football has released the official regulations governing the 2026 Ballon d’Or, outlining the eligibility period, voting process and criteria that will determine the world’s best male and female players.

The annual awards are organised by France Football, while the ceremony itself is jointly organised with UEFA.

The nominees for the various Ballon d’Or categories will be announced on September 8, 2026, with the winners set to be revealed at the awards ceremony in London on October 26, 2026.

The Ballon d’Or recognises the best male and female footballer in the world, with players eligible regardless of their nationality or the league in which they play.

The award is based on performances during a defined reference period covering the previous season.

For the 2026 edition, France Football will assess performances from August 3, 2025, to July 19, 2026.

International competitions held during this period will also be taken into account.

For the men’s award, the assessment includes major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

For the women’s award, the Asian Cup and final phase of the Nations League are included.

However, the Women’s AFCON, which concluded on August 16, 2026, falls outside the reference period and will therefore count towards the following Ballon d’Or cycle.

France Football has established three main criteria for selecting the winners, ranked in order of importance:

1. Individual performances and decisive, impressive impact

2. Collective performances and trophies won

3. Class and fair play

This means a player’s individual contribution and influence on matches carry the greatest weight, followed by team success and, finally, sporting conduct.

The winners are selected by an international jury made up of specialist football journalists.

For the men’s Ballon d’Or, one journalist represents each of the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings.

For the women’s Ballon d’Or, the jury consists of representatives from the top 50 nations in the FIFA rankings.

The rankings used to determine the participating countries will be those in effect when the nominee lists are published on September 8, 2026.

A shortlist of 30 players is drawn up for each main Ballon d’Or award.

The selection involves the France Football editorial team, members of the L’Équipe editorial team, at least one juror from the previous edition and UEFA ambassadors.

For the men’s award, UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo and Fabio Capello are involved in the selection process, while Nadine Kessler participates in selecting the women’s nominees.

Each juror selects 10 players from the 30-player shortlist and ranks them from first to tenth.

Points are then awarded according to the following system:

The player who accumulates the highest overall points total is crowned the Ballon d’Or winner.

If two or players finish with the same number of points, the winner will be determined by the number of first-place votes received.

If the tie remains, the players will then be separated according to the number of second-place votes, followed by third-place votes and so on until the tie is broken.

Any dispute arising from the voting process will be settled by the editor-in-chief of France Football, who serves as the organiser’s final authority.

The regulations provide the framework for how the 2026 Ballon d’Or winners will be selected as the football world awaits the announcement of the nominees on September 8.