Where Every Arsenal Nominee Finished at the 2026 Ballon d’Or

The Ballon d’Or rankings have been announced for 2026, awarding the best players in the world across the 2025/26 campaign.

The 2026 ceremony marked the first time the awards have been held in London, celebrating the 70th year anniversary of the most prestigious individual award in the world of football.

Three Arsenal players were nominated after the Gunners managed to get over the line in securing their first Premier League title in 22 years. Gabriel Magalhães, William Saliba and Declan Rice were all nominated for the individual accolade after stellar performances in the title-winning campaign.

For the Men’s Ballon d’Or, William Saliba finished joint 29th, whilst Gabriel Magalhães ended in 21st. Declan Rice, who was voted as the Arsenal Player of the Season for the 2025/26 campaign, came 15th in the overall rankings. Rice’s finish marked the joint 10th-best place an Arsenal player has finished in the club's history, going level with former club captain Patrick Vieira, who was also awarded a 15th-placed finish in the 2002 rankings.

Arsenal Women also had two nominations. Renée Slegers’ side were crowned inaugural winners of the Women’s Champions Cup after a 3-2 victory over Brazilian side Corinthians. They also finished second in the Women’s Super League and reached the semi-final in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Mariona Caldentey finished 13th in the Women’s Ballon d’Or standings, whilst Arsenal’s number nine, Alessia Russo, was awarded a ninth-place finish.

Despite being nominated for the award after managing Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years, a Champions League final and a Carabao Cup final, Mikel Arteta was unfortunately not named Men’s Coach of the Year. The award was given to Spain boss Luis de la Fuente after guiding his nation to World Cup glory for the first time in 16 years, after Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final over the summer. A nomination in itself is a huge achievement for Arteta, as he becomes the first Arsenal Men’s manager to be nominated for the award. Arsenal Women manager Renée Slegers was nominated for the Women’s Coach of the Year award in the 2025 edition of the Ballon d’Or.

David Raya was nominated for the Men’s Yashin Trophy, the Goalkeeper of the Year award. Unfortunately for the Arsenal goalkeeper, he was beaten to the accolade by his Spanish counterpart Unai Simón after his performance in the World Cup to bring Spain to glory.

Arsenal were also nominated for the Men's Club of the Year award though it was Ousmane Dembélé who was handed the award on behalf of Paris Saint-Germain, who beat the Gunners in the Champions League final last campaign.

Although not an award for immediate footballing skill on the pitch, Bukayo Saka did win the Socrates Award at tonight’s ceremony. The award is presented to honour footballers for their humanitarian work, social initiatives and community impact off the pitch.

Despite not bringing home any on-pitch accolades, Arsenal received seven nominations across the different awards in both the Men’s and Women’s categories, an incredible testament to the trajectory that Arsenal Football Club finds itself on heading into 2027.