Ferran Torres Leads Spain's Ballon d'Or Nominees

Ferran Torres, the man whose strike shattered Argentina and delivered the World Cup to Spain in July, now fronts the 30-man shortlist for the men’s Ballon d’Or announced in Paris on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old forward, who swapped Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain after that World Cup triumph, is one of six Spanish world champions on the list. He is joined by 2024 winner Rodri and last year’s runner-up Lamine Yamal, underlining Spain’s iron grip on the global game.

PSG’s Ballon d’Or army

Torres’ move to PSG has only swollen an already star-studded Paris contingent. He links up with last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele, one of nine PSG players nominated after the club’s back-to-back Champions League titles.

With Torres added, PSG now boast 10 current players on the men’s list.

Among them, Fabian Ruiz stands alone in a rare club: he is the only player on the shortlist to have lifted both the Champions League and the World Cup in 2026.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the electric Georgian winger who terrorised defences during PSG’s successful Champions League defence, is also nominated. So are Portuguese midfielders Vitinha and Joao Neves, both central to that European run.

Messi in, Ronaldo out

Lionel Messi’s relationship with the Ballon d’Or rolls on. The eight-time winner has been nominated for a 17th time, extending a record that already felt unbreakable. His long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, though, is absent from the list.

Messi dragged an ill-disciplined Argentina all the way to the World Cup final, even as they laboured badly against Spain. Argentina needed almost 120 minutes to register a single shot in that one-sided showpiece, settled by Torres’ decisive goal.

Kylian Mbappe is there again, too. The France captain became the first player to claim the World Cup Golden Boot twice and surged to the top of the tournament’s all-time scoring charts, numbers that made his inclusion a formality.

England’s spine is well represented. Harry Kane, fresh from a Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, makes the cut. So does Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, whose explosive World Cup for England produced seven goals. That tally matched Erling Haaland’s and was bettered only by Messi’s eight and Mbappe’s 10.

Yamal’s season earns him more than one nod. The Spanish prodigy is also shortlisted for the Young Talent award, which he has won in each of the last two years. A third would mark a remarkable hat-trick.

Cape Verde’s World Cup fairytale is not forgotten either. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who became one of the tournament’s surprise heroes, is named among the contenders for the goalkeeping prize.

Three of the men’s nominees are based outside Europe: Messi at Inter Miami in MLS, Sadio Mane and Julian Quinones in Saudi Arabia.

Putellas returns, Bonmati ruled out

On the women’s side, the list carries a sharp twist. Aitana Bonmati, a three-time winner and the defining midfielder of her generation, misses out after breaking her leg midway through the season. Injury has stopped a dynasty in full flow.

Her former Barcelona teammate Alexia Putellas, though, is back in the frame. The 2021 and 2022 winner, now with London City Lionesses, is among the leading names chasing the award again.

Barcelona’s women remain a force at the heart of the shortlist. Seven players from the side that crushed Lyon 4-0 in May’s Champions League final are nominated, including Poland’s Ewa Pajor, who scored twice in that emphatic victory.

The women’s award stretches the map even further than the men’s. Zambian forward Barbra Banda, starring for Orlando Pride in South Africa, makes the list. So does Mexican attacker Scarlett Camberos, playing in her home country, along with Malawian striker Temwa Chawinga and American midfielder Rose Lavelle, both plying their trade in the NWSL.

The stage is set. The winners of football’s most coveted individual prizes will be crowned at the London Palladium Theatre on October 26.