How is the Ballon d’Or winner decided and when is the 2025 winner announced?

SOME of the best players on the planet have been nominated for the Ballon d’Or — the most prestigious individual award in the beautiful game.

Here’s everything you need to know about how and when the winner of football’s top prize will be crowned.

How is the Ballon d’Or winner decided?

The Ballon d’Or winner is determined through a two-stage voting process.

The first stage involves journalists from French publications France Football and L’Equipe working together to come up with a list of thirty official nominees, which was announced on August 7, 2025.

This list is based entirely on the performances of footballers from the previous season and can occasionally include insights from a select group of former players.

Once the shortlist is finalised, one football journalist representing each of the top 100 Fifa-ranked nations is invited to take part in the voting, with each selecting their top 10 players.

The voting system awards points to each selection — the first-choice player receives 15 points, the second receives 12, and then 10, eight, seven, five, four, three, two and one point respectively for the subsequent places.

After all votes are submitted, the points are summed and the Ballon d’Or is awarded to the player with the highest total.

The remaining nominees are then ranked according to their final point totals from second to 30th place.

Should there be a tie in points between players, the tie-breaker is decided first by the number of first-place votes received.

If they are still level on points, then the number of second-place votes are considered, then third, and so on…

When the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner is announced?

The winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or will be revealed at a ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in central Paris on Monday, September 22, 2025.

In addition to the main award, several other honours will be handed out during the event.

The Kopa Trophy, which is awarded to the best player under the age of twenty-one, is determined by a vote among previous Ballon d’Or recipients, using a shortlist of ten young talents.

The Yashin Trophy, celebrating the top goalkeeper, is decided by journalist votes from a ten-player shortlist.

The Coach of the Year trophy is selected by journalists from a list of managerial candidates.

And finally, the Club of the Year trophy is given to the best-performing team according to journalist votes from a designated shortlist.