Ballon d'Or 2026: Deschamps absent from Coach of the Year nominees

Didier Deschamps will not be honored at the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony, scheduled for October 26 in London. The French national team manager, who was competing in his third and final World Cup at the helm of Les Bleus, was not selected among the five candidates for the Coach of the Year award.

The list of nominees reflects Spanish dominance. Luis Enrique, the defending champion, is well-placed after achieving the double in the Ligue des Champions. His main rival is Luis de la Fuente, manager of World Cup-winning Spain. Two other Spanish coaches complete the list: Mikel Arteta, who won the Premier League title with Arsenal and was an unlucky finalist in the Ligue des Champions, and Unai Emery, winner of the Ligue Europa with Aston Villa. Vincent Kompany, German champion with Bayern Munich and semi-finalist in the Ligue des Champions, is the fifth nominee.

In fourteen years at the helm of the French national team, Deschamps has won only one individual distinction of this kind: the FIFA The Best award in 2018, the year of the World Cup title. Neither Euro 2016 nor the 2022 World Cup earned him a podium finish at the Ballon d’Or. In three editions of this coach award, no French manager has yet been nominated.

On the player side, five French players are among the 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or: William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé. Warren Zaïre-Emery and Éli Junior Kroupi are in contention for the Young Player award, while Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha and Melvine Malard are nominated in the women’s category. The 100 journalists on the international jury must now establish their top 10 before the October 26 ceremony.