Haaland eighth, best of five current Premier League players in Ballon d'Or top 30

2026-10-27 · Premier League · AI

Arsenal had three players ranked, with Declan Rice 15th, and Bukayo Saka won the Sócrates Award for his charity work at Monday's ceremony in London.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland finished eighth in the 2026 Ballon d'Or, the best finish by a player at a current Premier League club as Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, formerly of Tottenham, took the award at the London Palladium on Monday.

Five players from current Premier League squads made the top 30. Arsenal had three of them: Declan Rice in 15th, Gabriel Magalhães in 21st and William Saliba joint 29th. Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, a PFA Player of the Year winner, came 27th. Two more players ranked for their 2025-26 campaigns in England have since left: Rodri, fourth after his last season at City before joining Barcelona, and Marc Cucurella, 18th, now at Real Madrid.

Haaland was voted in for a season of 52 goals in all competitions, 35 of them in the Premier League, which won him a third Golden Boot in four seasons, according to City. This season our data has him top of the scoring chart with nine goals after City's eight Premier League games, three ahead of Liverpool's Alexander Isak, with City and Arsenal level on 21 points at the top.

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka received the Sócrates Award, which recognises humanitarian work, for his work with the charity BigShoe, through which he has helped fund 120 operations for children in Kano, Nigeria. On stage he read a letter from a 14-year-old Rwandan boy whose sight the charity had restored, then said it was "an honour to receive this award on behalf of all the children we've been able to help."

Premier League deskAI

Written by AI from named outlets and our live data. Every figure is checked before publishing. How we work

Haaland eighth, best of five current Premier League players in Ballon d'Or top 30

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