Nigeria has no nominee for the first time since Osimhen broke into the conversation in 2023, with him and Lookman absent, as the 70th ceremony moves to London
Nigeria will have no nominee in any Ballon d'Or category this year, the first time since Victor Osimhen broke into the conversation in 2023. The 70th ceremony takes place at the London Palladium on Monday, starting at 8pm local time, or 9pm in Nigeria. Kate Scott and Thierry Henry are hosting, and it is the first time the awards have been staged outside Paris.
There is no Super Eagles player on the men's shortlist, no Super Falcons representative among the women's nominees, and no Nigerian in any of the other categories.
The biggest absences are Osimhen and Ademola Lookman. Osimhen finished eighth in 2023 after spearheading Napoli to the Serie A title, their first league championship in 33 years. Lookman was 14th in the 2024 ranking, the year he scored a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, which gave Atalanta their first major European trophy.
Between them, Osimhen and Lookman were responsible for seven of the 14 goals the Super Eagles netted at the 2025 AFCON tournament. Osimhen ended the 2025/26 season with 30 goal contributions in all competitions, and Lookman had 12 goals and six assists. Numbers like those would ordinarily keep a player in the conversation, but the timing worked against them.
The assessment period ran from 3 August 2025 to 19 July 2026, the day of the World Cup final. Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup, and judges place great importance on displays at the sport's biggest stage.
The women's game kept Nigeria in the conversation last year. Coach Justine Madugu and goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie were nominated after the Super Falcons beat Morocco 3-2 in the final of the 2025 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, a record-extending 10th continental title. Both finished fourth in their categories at the Paris ceremony. Neither has been nominated this year.
Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé lead a 30-man men's list. Kane captained England to third place at the World Cup, and a win would make him the first Englishman to take the award since Michael Owen in 2001.
Paris Saint-Germain have 10 nominees, including defending champion Ousmane Dembélé. Lionel Messi, an eight-time winner, is also on the list. Last year, Yamal came runner-up to Dembélé, and he is going for a third straight Kopa Trophy, awarded to the top player under 21. Mbappé won no trophies but claimed top scorer awards in LaLiga, the Champions League and the World Cup.
The winner is chosen by an international jury of specialist journalists. Each of the top 100 nations in the FIFA men's rankings is represented by one journalist, who ranks their top 10 candidates. The criteria put individual performance first, then team achievements, then class and fair play.
Former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, now in charge of Benin Republic, watched Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-0 in London before naming his picks. He said four players could win it: Kane, Mbappé, Yamal and Michael Olise.
Rohr's own preference was clear:
"Personally, it could be fine for Michael Olise to win it, but also Yamal, and one of the two, I think, should win it."
Rohr stopped short of backing Kane, who is among the bookmakers' favourites. He said Mbappé "would deserve it also, because a few times he was there, but it didn't work out for him to be the winner." "Not easy to say who will win," he added.
The injured Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are free to attend, since both will miss Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 game against Lyon, which has been moved to Monday evening.
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