Bunny Shaw is out of the 2026 Women’s Ballon d’Or conversation that Sports Illustrated published ahead of the Oct. 26 ceremony at the London Palladium. Aitana Bonmatí also misses the list after three straight years at the top, leaving this race without its most familiar winner.
Sports Illustrated’s ranking puts Scarlett Camberos at No. 26 and makes her the first Mexican woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or. That is the clearest signal in the list: the award’s field is widening beyond the usual European core, and the vote now has a real opening for new names to break through.
Sports Illustrated’s 50-judge window
The judging window runs from August 3, 2025, to July 19, 2026, and the competition is expected to lean heavily on the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The Women’s Asian Cup is the only major international tournament inside that span, so club form is carrying unusual weight in a cycle that reaches 27 of the 50 judges based in Europe.
That setup helps explain why the list is already being treated as more than a ranking exercise. It is a map of where recognition is likely to come from, and Europe remains the center of gravity for the result.
Camberos at No. 26
Scarlett Camberos comes in at No. 26 after winning the Concacaf W Champions Cup with Club América. Her place on the list matters because it is not just a high ranking; it is a first for Mexico in the Ballon d’Or women’s race, and it gives the award a broader reference point going into the final vote.
Sports Illustrated placed Tessa Wullaert at No. 30, Lorena at No. 29, Melvine Malard at No. 28, and Manaka Matsukubo at No. 27 ahead of Camberos. That cluster shows how tight the middle of the field is, with the list rewarding players who delivered across club competition even without the same level of global spotlight.
Bonmatí’s absence
Aitana Bonmatí’s omission changes the tone of the award more than any single placement does. She had ruled the last three years, but a leg injury kept her out of the second half of the 2025-26 season, so the race opens without the player everyone else has been chasing.
That leaves the Oct. 26 Ballon d’Or ceremony at the London Palladium with a cleaner competitive picture and fewer assumptions baked in. The question now is simple: who among the ranked players turns a strong season into the trophy when the votes land in Europe’s favor, with the spotlight still on the UEFA Women’s Champions League and the final call still ahead.
