England men’s Ballon d’Or nominees in profile

Three of our England men’s senior squad have been nominated for the main men’s award at the 2026 Ballon d’Or Ceremony.

Three Lions captain Harry Kane, Real Madrid ace Jude Bellingham and midfielder Declan Rice were all named on the 30-strong shortlist for the award with voting to take place between now and the ceremony on Monday 26 October.

It’s the 70th anniversary of the Ballon d’Or Ceremony, which means it will be held outside of Paris for the first time and hosted in London to recognise and honour the first winner, Sir Stanley Matthews back in 1956.

And following the release of the shortlist, we take a look at the three English contenders.

Jude Bellingham

While Jude may have been frustrated at times during the 2025–26 campaign due to injury, it was followed by an extraordinary international redemption with England.

Bellingham began the campaign recovering from shoulder surgery, which ruled him out of the opening weeks and also impacted his involvement in England’s autumn internationals. He then suffered a hamstring injury in February 2026, that kept him out for almost two months, with the prospect of World Cup selection on the horizon.

And while Madrid ended the season without a major trophy for the first time in his three years at the Bernebeu, there were still some classic Bellingham moments. He scored the winner against Juventus in the Champions League and scored in the Clásico victory over Barcelona.

But it was what followed at the World Cup which completely transformed the narrative of his campaign, as he answered any doubts in emphatic style.

He scored in England's opening 4–2 win over Croatia, then produced one of the tournament's outstanding individual performances against Mexico, scoring twice as England won 3–2 in the Azteca Stadium.

Against Norway in the quarter-final, he scored both goals in England's 2–1 extra-time comeback which took him to six goals in the tournament, alongside Harry Kane.

His seventh goal of the competition came in the final outing, as a brilliant solo effort against France in the bronze-medal match saw him become the first England men's player to score seven goals at a major international tournament.

Harry Kane

Harry Kane had a phenomenal season, combining extraordinary scoring for Bayern Munich with another outstanding campaign for England. Across club and country, he scored 73 goals in 65 appearances, with eight assists — one of the most prolific seasons of the modern era.

Kane was the outstanding goalscorer in the Bundesliga, finishing with 36 goals in 31 league appearances and winning the European Golden Shoe. It was his third consecutive Bundesliga top-scorer award, making him the first player in Bundesliga history to finish as the leading scorer in each of his first three seasons in the competition.

By the end of the season, he had also reached 100 Bayern goals in just 104 competitive appearances, another extraordinary milestone.

Kane's international season culminated at the World Cup, where he scored six goals in six matches, including a crucial brace against DR Congo that rescued England from a 1–0 deficit and sent them into the last 16.

He then scored the winning penalty against Mexico, taking his tournament tally to six and his career World Cup total to 14 goals — moving him beyond Gary Lineker as England's leading men's World Cup scorer.

He also set another new record in the USA, overtaking Bobby Moore as the player with the most caps as England captain.

Declan Rice

The midfielder had an excellent 2025–26 season, helping Arsenal to win the Premier League and reach the Champions League final before he then played a major role for England at the World Cup.

Rice was one of the foundations of Arsenal's title-winning campaign. He made 55 appearances, starting 49 games, to underline his importance to Mikel Arteta.

There was also a near-miss in Europe, as the Gunners reached the Champions League final in Budapest against Paris Saint-Germain. After a 1-1 draw against the French outfit, Arsenal ultimately lost by 4–3 on penalties.

The Surrey-born ace put that disappointment aside and was one of England's most important all-round players at the subsequent World Cup in North America. He even demonstrated his versatility by playing right-back during the knockout-stage win over DR Congo.

But the defining individual moment came in the final game against France as the nations competed for the bronze medal, as Rice captained England for the first time at the tournament, won his 80th cap, scored after just three minutes with a superb curling strike from distance and delivered the corner from which Ezri Konsa scored England's second.

England won the extraordinary match 6–4, securing their best World Cup finish outside England since 1966.

Now that the nominees are announced, an international jury of specialised journalists will cast their votes.

The panel consists of one representative per country from the top 100 nations in the FIFA Men's World Ranking and the top 50 in the Women's World Ranking.

Each voter will select their top choices based on three established criteria: individual and decisive performance, collective achievements and trophies won, and class and fair play on and off the pitch.

Using these metrics, each voting journalist selects and ranks ten players from the shortlist, assigning 15 points for their first choice, down to a single point for their tenth.

The accumulated points will determine who takes home the prestigious trophies at the ceremony on 26 October.

Good luck to all of our nominees!