Ferran Torres Leads Ballon d'Or Race After World Cup Glory

Ferran Torres, the man whose ice-cool finish sank Argentina and sealed Spain’s World Cup glory in July, now fronts the race for football’s most prestigious individual prize.

The 26-year-old forward, freshly installed at Paris Saint-Germain after his summer move from Barcelona, headlines a 30-man shortlist for the men’s Ballon d’Or unveiled in Paris on Tuesday. His inclusion feels inevitable after a year in which he not only delivered the decisive goal on the biggest stage, but also lifted La Liga with Barça before crossing the Pyrenees to join the French champions.

PSG power and Spain’s golden core

Torres is one of six Spanish World Cup winners on the list, underlining the depth of Luis de la Fuente’s champions. He is joined by 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and last year’s runner-up Lamine Yamal, the teenage phenomenon who continues to bend records to his will.

At club level, the power base is clear. PSG dominate the men’s field.

With Torres now in Paris, the French giants boast 10 current players among the nominees. Nine of them were part of the side that has strung together back-to-back Champions League triumphs, a show of continental muscle that voters rarely ignore. France international Ousmane Dembele, last year’s Ballon d’Or winner, leads that contingent, now reunited with Torres in a front line brimming with pace and invention.

Fabian Ruiz stands alone in a different category. The Spanish midfielder is the only player on the list who can claim both a Champions League and a World Cup winner’s medal from 2026, a double that still carries enormous weight.

PSG’s European campaign also propelled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia into the conversation. The flying Georgian winger tormented full-backs throughout their Champions League defence and is joined on the shortlist by Portuguese midfield pair Vitinha and Joao Neves, who controlled games with a blend of bite and elegance.

Messi back again, Ronaldo left out

Some things change. One refuses to.

Lionel Messi, already an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, has been nominated for a 17th time. At 39, the Inter Miami forward remains a magnet for the spotlight after dragging a volatile, ill-disciplined Argentina all the way to the World Cup final. They were outplayed by Spain in a one-sided showpiece, failing to register a shot for almost 120 minutes, but Messi’s eight goals across the tournament still carried them to the brink.

His long-time rival does not join him this year. Cristiano Ronaldo is absent from the shortlist, a stark marker of the shifting era at the very top of the game.

Kylian Mbappe, by contrast, sits firmly in his prime. The France captain became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Boot twice and surged to the top of the tournament’s all-time scoring charts. His nomination was never in doubt.

England’s Jude Bellingham is also in, rewarded for a thunderous World Cup in which he scored seven times. That haul matched Erling Haaland’s tally and trailed only Messi and Mbappe. Harry Kane, who captained England and fired Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title, joins him on the list, as does Bayern’s French wing magician Michael Olise.

Lamine Yamal, already among the main nominees, also appears in the Young Talent category. He has won that award in each of the past two years and will again take some shifting from his perch.

Putellas returns, Bonmati misses out

On the women’s side, the headline is as brutal as it is simple: Aitana Bonmati, a three-time winner and the dominant force of recent years, is not on the shortlist. A broken leg midway through the season cut her campaign short and opened the door to others.

Alexia Putellas steps back into the frame. The 2021 and 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, now with London City Lionesses after her Barcelona exit, makes the list again, her reputation and enduring influence impossible to ignore.

Barcelona still carry serious weight in the women’s category. Seven of the players who lifted the Women’s Champions League with the club in May have been nominated, including Poland striker Ewa Pajor, who struck twice in a ruthless 4-0 demolition of Lyon in the final.

Beyond Europe’s borders

Not all of the men’s contenders ply their trade in Europe anymore. Messi’s renaissance continues at Inter Miami in MLS, while Sadio Mane and Julian Quinones are flying the flag for Saudi Arabia’s domestic league.

The women’s shortlist stretches the map even further. Zambian forward Barbra Banda, starring for Orlando Pride in South Africa, earns recognition. So does Mexican attacker Scarlett Camberos, playing in her homeland, along with Malawian striker Temwa Chawinga and American playmaker Rose Lavelle, both operating in the NWSL.

The stage is set. On October 26, at the London Palladium Theatre, the winners will walk out into the spotlight and collect football’s most coveted individual trophies. With a World Cup year behind them and a power shift brewing at both club and international level, whose name will define this era next?