This is how the tiebreaker criteria works in the Ballon d'Or

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17/10/26 18:30:00

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Breaking news on the Ballon d'Or. The individual award has a specific mechanism to break a tie for first place. If Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, or any other candidate end up with the same points, the France Football regulations establish that the votes obtained in the first position should be compared first. The ceremony will take place on October 26 in London.

The system starts with a vote by specialized journalists. For the male edition, representatives from the top 100 countries of the current FIFA ranking when the lists were published on September 8, 2026 participate. Each jury member selects 10 players and ranks them according to their preferences.

Ballon d'Or: the first criterion to break the tie

Each position in the vote has a specific score. The first-placed player receives 15 points, the second gets 12, the third 10, and subsequent positions receive 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points, respectively. The initial winner is the one with the highest total.

If two players end with the exact same points, the regulations do not consider an additional vote between them. The first tiebreaker involves counting how many times each player has been placed in the first position by the jury members.

This criterion can directly impact a competition between candidates like Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane. Both are nominees for the Ballon d'Or 2026 and have 9 and 8 historical nominations, respectively, although this data does not determine the result of this year's vote.

What happens if the tie persists?

If two players maintain the same number of first-place votes, the regulations move to the next level: the times each one has finished second in the ballots are counted. If there is still no difference, the third positions are compared, and then the following ones until a tiebreaker is found.

Therefore, a player can have the exact same total points as another and still win the Ballon d'Or due to a different distribution of their votes. The order chosen by each journalist is crucial when the final total does not differentiate the candidates.

The case of Lamine Yamal also adds another element to the 2026 edition: the player is among the nominees for the male Ballon d'Or and also for the Young Talent of the Year award. The regulations allow a player to win more than one award at the same ceremony.

France Football has the final say

The regulations include a final scenario if the tie persists after reviewing the positions on the ballots. Article 9 states that any dispute arising from the vote will be resolved by the editor-in-chief of France Football, as the organizer.

Therefore, there is no second Ballon d'Or in case of an absolute tie: first, the votes in the first position are considered, then the second places, the third and subsequent ones. Only if this process does not resolve the situation does the authority provided by the regulations come into play.

The final answer will come on October 26, 2026, when the Ballon d'Or ceremony will be held in London. Until then, names like Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane, and Lamine Yamal will have to wait for the official count to know the vote result.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Así funciona el criterio de desempate en el Balón de Oro