France Football has dropped the 2026 Ballon d'Or shortlist, and for the first time in the award's history, a Mexican club is on it. Club América's inclusion isn't tokenism — they won a continental title by beating two NWSL clubs to do it. The ceremony lands on October 26.
Thirty players are nominated for the Women's Ballon d'Or. The breadth of this list reflects how genuinely global the women's game has become — Zambia, Malawi, Jamaica, Mexico, Brazil, the United States, and half of Europe are all in the conversation.
The Frontrunners
Khadija Shaw is the name that jumps off the page. The Jamaican striker finished the WSL season with 21 goals and four assists, added five more in the FA Cup, and then turned around and scored nine times for Jamaica in the Concacaf W Qualifiers. That's not one good run of form — that's sustained excellence across every competition she entered. Manchester City won the league and the FA Cup, and Shaw was the leading scorer in both. She has to be considered a serious favorite.
Kansas City Current landed two nominees. Temwa Chawinga went back-to-back on the Golden Boot and MVP, then helped Malawi reach the WAFCON final as debutants — a Cinderella run that secured their 2027 World Cup spot. Her goalkeeper teammate Lorena broke the league's defensive record with 16 clean sheets and 13 goals conceded, then made the decisive penalty save to hand Brazil their fifth straight Copa América. Two nominees from one club is a statement.
Barbra Banda missed chunks of last season through injury but still scored eight times. This year, fully fit, she sits second in the Golden Boot race with 14 goals and three assists for Orlando Pride. The Zambian is back to her best.
Lily Yohannes, 19, is the youngest nominee on the entire list — men's and women's combined. A domestic treble with OL Lyonnais and a Women's Champions League final appearance before she's old enough to rent a car in most countries. She's also picked up a second nomination for Young Talent of the Year, which shouldn't surprise anyone who's watched Lyonnais this season.
Rose Lavelle won Gotham the championship and the Concacaf W Champions Cup, scored the title-winning goal in the 80th minute of the final after months on the treatment table, and walked away with the Championship MVP and U.S. Soccer's Female Player of the Year. She had a worse first half of the season than anyone would want. The second half made people forget about it.
The Club América Factor
Scarlett Camberos might be the most interesting name on the list from a historical standpoint. She captained Club América to a treble — Liga Femenil title, Champions of Champions, and the Concacaf W Champions Cup — scoring a hat-trick in the continental semifinal against Gotham and finishing with nine goals in the tournament. She took home the Golden Ball. América beat Washington Spirit in the final.
No Mexican club had ever won a Continental title before this. No Mexican club had ever appeared on a Ballon d'Or shortlist before this. Camberos was the engine of both firsts.
Coaches, Young Players & Clubs
The Coach of the Year list features Jonatan Giráldez (OL Lyonnais treble), Andrée Jeglertz (Manchester City double), Nils Nielsen (Japan's AFC Women's Asian Cup win and a SheBelieves Cup victory over the USA), and Pere Romeu, who delivered an actual quadruple with Barcelona — Liga F, Copa de la Reina, Supercopa, and the UEFA Women's Champions League. Elena Sadiku is the only woman on the coaching shortlist, recognized for winning the inaugural UEFA Women's Europa Cup with BK Häcken.
For Young Talent of the Year, Yohannes headlines a group that includes Chelsea's Veerle Buurman (20), Barcelona's Vicky López (20), Real Madrid's Felicia Schröder, and Barcelona's Clara Serrajordi — just 18, the youngest in the category.
Club of the Year nominees mirror the coaching list: Barcelona, Manchester City, OL Lyonnais, Bayern Munich (who went 45 games unbeaten in the Bundesliga and won a German treble), and Club América. Bayern dethroning Wolfsburg with that kind of run deserves more attention than it's getting.
- Women's Ballon d'Or nominees (selected): Barbra Banda, Temwa Chawinga, Khadija Shaw, Lily Yohannes, Rose Lavelle, Lorena, Scarlett Camberos
- Young Talent nominees: Lily Yohannes, Veerle Buurman, Vicky López, Felicia Schröder, Clara Serrajordi
- Coach of the Year nominees: Jonatan Giráldez, Andrée Jeglertz, Nils Nielsen, Pere Romeu, Elena Sadiku
- Club of the Year nominees: Barcelona Femení, Manchester City, OL Lyonnais, Bayern Munich, Club América
Shaw's numbers are the most complete of any forward on the list. But Camberos writing Mexican football history and Chawinga's back-to-back MVP seasons make this the most genuinely open Women's Ballon d'Or vote in years.
