2026 Ballon d’Or: 20 African countries to vote for winner [Full List]

Voting for the 2026 Ballon d’Or award will be limited to 20 African countries, as per FIFA's ranking system. This restriction stems from the fact that only the top 100 countries in FIFA world rankings can participate in selecting the winner of this prestigious football accolade.

The 2026 regulations specify that the FIFA ranking existing on September 8 served as the basis for determining the jury members. Each journalist participating in the voting process will be tasked with choosing and ranking 10 players out of the 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or award.

The scoring system is devised such that the player chosen first by a journalist earns 15 points, followed by a decrement of three points for each subsequent choice. This ranking continues down to the 10th choice, which is awarded one point.

African nations that meet the qualification criteria include Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Gabon, Angola, Uganda, Zambia, Benin, and a total of 80 other countries. These African nations are among the top 100 in FIFA world rankings, thereby qualifying them to participate in the selection process of the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner.