Ballon d'Or 2026: Lionel Messi and three Arsenal stars among nominees as shortlist revealed | OneFootball

David Raya can count himself unlucky to miss out

Three Arsenal players have been named on the Ballon d'Or shortlist.

The strong Arsenal contingent comes as no surprise after the club ended their 22-year wait to become Premier League champions again.

Mikel Arteta's side also made it to the Champions League final, where they were beaten on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain.

Declan Rice and William Saliba have made the 30-man shortlist, while Gabriel is nominated for the first time.

David Raya has missed out and is the Arsenal player who can perhaps consider himself to be most unfortunate not to be included.

The Spaniard has, however, been nominated for the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper in men's football over the previous year.

Raya made the shortlist last year, coming sixth in the voting as Gianluigi Donnarumma won the award.

At that ceremony 12 months ago, Rice was the only Arsenal player to make the Ballon d'Or shortlist. He came 27th in the voting.

Viktor Gyokeres finished 15th, though that was for his performances when he was still at Sporting.

Ousmane Dembele, who won the 2025 Ballon d'Or, has again been shortlisted, as has Bruno Fernandes, who beat Rice to the PFA player of the year award at the end of last season.

The favourite, though, is Harry Kane. Only four English players have previously won the award, most recently Michael Owen in 2001.

Favourite: Harry Kane

AFP/Getty

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich last season, before netting six times at the World Cup.

For the Women's Ballon d'Or, both Alessia Russo and Mariona Caldentey have made the shortlist for the Gunners.

Arsenal have also been nominated for the men's club of the year, while Arteta is up for the top coach award.

The Ballon d'Or ceremony will take place on October 26 and, for the first time, it will be held in London, in what will be the 70th anniversary of the award.

Men’s 2026 Ballon d’Or Nominees

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona)

Marc Cucurella (Chelsea/Real Madrid)

Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)

Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

Gabriel (Arsenal)

Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)

Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Paris Saint-Germain)

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

Sadio Mane (Al Nassr)

Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)

Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

Joao Neves (Paris Saint-Germain)

Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)

Willian Pacho (Paris Saint-Germain)

Julian Quinones (Al Qadsiah)

Declan Rice (Arsenal)

William Saliba (Arsenal)

Ferran Torres (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain)

Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich)