Ballon d'Or shortlist omits Arsenal forwards as Haaland and Fernandes feature

The Ballon d'Or shortlist has been published with a thin Premier LeaguePremier LeagueEngland presence among attacking players. Manchester UnitedManchester UnitedPremier League · England's Bruno Fernandes and Manchester CityManchester CityPremier League · England's Erling HaalandErling HaalandMan City · Norway · Forward are the attacking names carrying English football's case, while champions ArsenalArsenalPremier League · England contribute three players — Gabriel Magalhães, Declan RiceDeclan RiceArsenal · England · Midfielder and William Saliba — all of them defensive.

2025/26

Season 2025/26

What the shortlist shows

Sixteen attacking players make the list. That Fernandes and Haaland are among them is a straightforward reflection of their standing; that no forward from the country's best team is included is the detail that has drawn attention. Cole Palmer, a nominee in 2025, misses out after a year disrupted by injury.

The shape of the list fits a season in which English football leaned further towards physicality and set-piece work. Two attacking players from the division is a narrow return for a league of its size, and one whose leading side built its title on defensive rigour rather than attacking fluency.

Arsenal won the league without an elite forward

Hossein Zohrevand · CC BY 4.0

Arsenal took the title, but their attacking players are not rated among the shortlist's best. Injuries denied Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Bukayo SakaBukayo SakaArsenal · England · Forward the fluency to press a case across the campaign. Mikel Arteta's side earned respect rather than affection, admired for defensive discipline rather than ambition.

The harshest version of that criticism concerns the Champions LeagueChampions LeagueEurope final. The argument has been made that a lack of ambition after going 1-0 up against Paris Saint-Germain stopped Arsenal from winning it. That is a contested reading of a single match, not an established finding.

What the pattern suggests

--Steindy (talk) 16:14, 29 August 2019 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Analysis: a division that increasingly rewards height, duels and dead-ball delivery will produce fewer candidates in the attacking categories, because the qualities that decide domestic matches are not always the ones that decide European ties or a global vote. Whether this is a lasting re-rating of the Premier League or one season's distortion is the open question.

What is not yet known

• The shortlist is not a result: no winner has been announced, and no date for the award has been given.
• Arsenal have not commented publicly on the absence of their forwards.
• None of the players left off the list has responded to the omission.
• It is not known whether the attacking balance shifts when the next shortlist is drawn up.

What happens next is largely a question of output rather than argument. The Premier League season that produced this list is over; the coming campaign is the one that will be judged when the next set of nominees is compiled, and Arsenal's forwards will need fitness as much as form to change the picture.