Twenty African countries will have a voice in deciding the 2026 Ballon d’Or after securing places among the top 100 nations in the FIFA men’s world ranking used to determine the award’s international voting panel.
France Football, organisers of the prestigious individual award, confirmed that the men’s Ballon d’Or is decided by a jury of specialised journalists, with one representative from each of the 100 highest-ranked countries in the FIFA rankings.
For the 2026 edition, the FIFA ranking in effect when the Ballon d’Or nominees were announced on September 8 was used to determine the composition of the jury.
Each journalist will vote for 10 players from the 30 nominees, ranking them in order of preference. The first choice will receive 15 points, while the remaining selections will earn 12, 10, eight, seven, five, four, three, two and one point respectively.
Morocco leads the African representation after ranking sixth in the FIFA standings, followed by Senegal in 18th, Egypt in 24th and Nigeria in 26th.
The full list of African countries represented on the 100-member jury is:
- Morocco — 6th in FIFA ranking
- Senegal — 18th
- Egypt — 24th
- Nigeria — 26th
- Algeria — 29th
- Côte d’Ivoire — 31st
- DR Congo — 41st
- Cameroon — 43rd
- Mali — 53rd
- South Africa — 54th
- Tunisia — 57th
- Burkina Faso — 62nd
- Cabo Verde — 64th
- Ghana — 65th
- Guinea — 81st
- Gabon — 84th
- Angola — 87th
- Uganda — 89th
- Zambia — 90th
- Benin — 94th
The remaining 80 countries on the international jury are drawn from Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania.
While France Football has not released the complete list of individual voters, several African journalists have been publicly identified as representatives for their respective countries.
Nigeria’s ballot is being represented by Samm Audu of Score Nigeria, while Ghana’s representative is sports broadcaster Michael Oti Adjei.
Egypt is represented by veteran journalist Inas Mazhar, South Africa by football commentator and statistician Mark Gleeson, while Morocco’s representative is Mustapha Badri, editor and director of Al Mountakhab.
France Football has maintained that the complete individual voting records will be released after the ceremony.
The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is scheduled to take place in London on October 26, when the winner of the men’s award will be announced.
The award recognises performances during the 2025/26 season, covering domestic and international competitions. For this edition, the assessment period runs from August 3, 2025, to July 19, 2026, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.
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