The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious award an individual soccer player can win - with both male and female prizes handed out.
The prize, awarded by France Football, typically is handed out in France, but this year's ceremony is taking place in London's Palladium theater in honor of 70th anniversary of Stanley Matthews winning the first edition of the prize.
But who decides the winner? The publication has an expansive voting process that we'll explain here:
Who makes up the Ballon d'Or voting panel?
The Ballon d'Or is awarded by a panel of 100 journalists, one from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings as of September 2026.
The voter lists 10 players in descending order, with his or her top pick receiving 15 points, second pick receiving 12 and on down with the values of 10,
8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 for third through 10th. The player with the most points after the votes are tallied takes takes the hardware.
Voters are asked to consider three factors:
- Individual performances, decisive and impressive character
- Collective performances and titles won
- Class and fair play
In the past, the United States has been represented by Paul Kennedy of long-running magazine Soccer America, while respected sports journalists like Mark Gleeson of South Africa and Herry Winter of England and Luis Rolando Solares of Guatemala among other past panelists
With this year's trophy one of the most disputed in recent memory, fans of each player surely will be going over each journalist's ballot after to see who rated each performance the most highly and which votes made the difference as Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and other stars hope to be crowned the top men's player in the world.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who votes on Ballon d'Or? Panel for soccer's biggest award explained
