The 2026 Ballon d’Or will be awarded in London, a historic first

Paris loses, at least for one evening, its most emblematic meeting. The 2026 Ballon d'Or will be awarded on October 26 in London, breaking with a tradition almost as old as the trophy itself. Behind this relocation lies an unexpected story, directly linked to Stanley Matthews, the first player to win the trophy.

When France Football imagined the Ballon d'Or in 1956, the magazine wanted to reward the best European player of the year. For this first edition, it is therefore the Englishman Stanley Matthews, then star of Blackpool, who is crowned. Nearly 70 years later, this historic link with English football partly explains why London was chosen to host the 2026 edition.

From Paris to London, the Ballon d’Or changes dimension

This relocation marks above all a break with a firmly established tradition. Apart from the interlude between 2010 and 2015, when the ceremony was held in Zurich during the period of collaboration with Fifa, the Ballon d'Or had always been associated with Paris, the cradle of the trophy.

But the organization of the event has since evolved. Since 2024, UEFA and the Amaury Group, owner of France Football and the Team, have worked together to organize the ceremony. The Ballon d’Or has thus become an event that goes beyond the sole framework of the French magazine.

And this first outing outside France could therefore not be the last, the new organization risking regular changes of host country.