2026 Ballon d’Or: A night of humiliation for the Arsenal
It was an humiliating night for The Arsenal at the 70th Ballon d’Or gala, where their remarkable domestic and European campaign counted for little as they were not just overlooked, but ridiculed alongside their innocent legends.
It was a tough evening for Arsenal, whose highest-placed player at the 2026 Ballon d’Or finished 15th, while David Raya, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world last season, was overlooked in favour of Unai Simón.
To make matters worse, Arsenal legends were invited to present the Club of the Year award to Paris Saint-Germain.
The 2026 Ballon d’Or has come and gone, with Harry Kane claiming the biggest individual prize, but Arsenal, who won the Premier League and finished runners-up in the Champions League, left with little to celebrate beyond Bukayo Saka’s Sócrates Award.
The Yashin Trophy was supposed to be theirs. Raya stood out among his goalkeeping colleagues, winning the Premier League Golden Glove for the third consecutive season and finishing as the Champions League’s best goalkeeper. Yet the voters thought otherwise, favouring his Spanish counterpart, Simón, who also helped Spain win the World Cup.
How frustrating is it that a goalkeeper who conceded just 31 goals in 51 appearances across all club competitions finished second to a man who conceded 54 goals in 37 La Liga appearances?
Unai Simón’s international achievements deserve recognition, but Raya’s season at club level made a compelling case of its own.
To add to the disappointment, Declan Rice was Arsenal’s highest-placed player in the Ballon d’Or rankings, finishing 15th. Not a single Arsenal player made the top 10, despite the club coming within a penalty shootout of winning the Champions League and securing the Premier League title.
How often does a team that comes so close to a historic double find itself so poorly represented among football’s biggest individual honours?
The only award Arsenal could celebrate was not directly related to on-pitch performance. Saka received the Sócrates Award for his humanitarian work and social initiatives, providing a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing evening.
Arsenal, a team whose players are often questioned for their individual quality, won the most competitive league in the world and nearly conquered Europe. Yet they finished behind PSG in the Club of the Year category, even though the French champions had three players in the Ballon d’Or top 10.
Mikel Arteta also missed out on the Coach of the Year award to Luis de la Fuente, who led Spain to World Cup glory. While De la Fuente’s achievement was unquestionably significant, Arteta’s work in guiding Arsenal to domestic and European contention deserved greater recognition, afterall LDLF did achieved his success with the best team in the World days before the tournament kicked off.
The France Football gala appeared to undermine the Arsenal players who achieved those heights, as well as the manager whose tactical work helped take them there. If the voters considered none of Arsenal’s players worthy of a place in the top 10, they could at least have given Arteta greater credit for taking his team so far.
Instead, Raya was left to congratulate a goalkeeper who had edged him to the Yashin Trophy, while Arsenal watched PSG collect the Club of the Year award.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Premier League champions.
The Sócrates Award was a worthy honour for Bukayo Saka, but it offered little consolation for a club whose collective achievements seemed to count for so little on a night supposedly designed to celebrate football’s finest.
