LONDON (AP) — The Ballon d’Or ceremony to crown the best men's and women's players in soccer is moving from its traditional Paris home to London in October.
The venue change for the Oct. 26 ceremony marks the 70th anniversary of the first award won by England great Stanley Matthews, co-organizers France Football magazine and UEFA said on Thursday.
London also is the home city of England record scorer Harry Kane and the Arsenal team which won its first Premier League title in 22 years and plays for a first Champions League title on Saturday against Paris Saint-Germain.
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games of a standout season for German champion Bayern Munich. That career-best total included 14 in the Champions League, where Bayern was edged by PSG in the semifinals, plus five more for England in a World Cup qualifying group.
The men's Ballon d’Or in Paris last year was won by Ousmane Dembélé after PSG won its first Champions League title.
Dembélé scored 19 in 39 games for PSG this season and started only 11 games in the Ligue 1 title campaign. He has seven goals in the Champions League ahead of facing Arsenal, including a key goal against Bayern, though he missed five of France’s six World Cup qualifying games while injured.
The winner of the past three women's Ballon d'Or awards, Aitana BonmatÃ, missed most of the season through injury, returning at the end of Barcelona's quadruple-winning season that has included another Champions League title last Saturday against OL Lyonnes.
Ballon d'Or voters are a global panel of journalists who each pick their top 10 from a shortlist of 30 players presented by France Football, L'Equipe newspaper and UEFA.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Redwood Symphony presents a unique, must-see musical event: the West Coast premiere of long-… Read moreA Little Night Music
Come and connect with local organizations, learn about support for housing, food, youth serv… Read moreOur Home San Mateo community resource fair
DougOSaurus said:
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.