Ballon d’Or 2026: Only 20 African Countries Eligible to Vote for Winner

Only 20 African countries are eligible to vote for the winner of the 2026 Ballon d’Or, with the voting rights determined by the FIFA world rankings used to form the award’s international jury.

Under the 2026 Ballon d’Or regulations, the FIFA ranking in effect when the voting lists were published on September 8 was used to determine which countries could participate in the voting process.

Each eligible journalist will assess the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees and select 10 players in order of preference. The player ranked first will receive 15 points, followed by 12, 10, eight, seven, five, four, three, two and one point for the 10th-ranked player.

Morocco is the highest-ranked African country on the voting list, sitting sixth in the FIFA rankings. Senegal follows in 18th, while Egypt is 24th and Nigeria is 26th.

Other African countries eligible to vote are Algeria, ranked 29th; Côte d’Ivoire, 31st; DR Congo, 41st; Cameroon, 43rd; Mali, 53rd; and South Africa, 54th.

Tunisia is ranked 57th, followed by Burkina Faso at 62nd, Cabo Verde at 64th and Ghana at 65th. Guinea, Gabon, Angola, Uganda, Zambia and Benin complete Africa’s 20 eligible voting nations, occupying positions from 81st to 94th.

The remaining 80 countries among the FIFA top 100 are spread across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania. Their journalists will also take part in selecting the winner from the 30 nominees.

The voting system means African representation at the Ballon d’Or is limited to countries that met the FIFA ranking requirement at the specified cut-off date, rather than the continent’s full membership.