Paris Saint-Germain became the first club outside of Real Madrid to win back-to-back Champions League titles in the European Cup era. The Ballon d'Or Men's Club of the Year award is essentially theirs to lose.
Five clubs are on the shortlist for the October 26 ceremony in London, organised by France Football. The award has only existed since 2021, and four of the five winners so far lifted the Champions League that year — Chelsea, Manchester City (twice), Real Madrid, and PSG themselves. The pattern is hard to ignore when placing any weight on the other nominees.
Here's how the five clubs rank ahead of the vote.
The Contenders, Ranked
5. Bodø/Glimt — Norwegian Cup, Champions League Round of 16. Let's be honest: they were never winning this. But their nomination isn't a joke. Kjetil Knutsen's side operate closer geographically to the Arctic Circle than to the Bernabéu, yet they beat Manchester City at home, Atlético Madrid away, and then knocked out Champions League finalists Inter Milan home and away to reach the Last 16. For a club of their size and location, that's a story worth telling — even if the trophy belongs elsewhere.
4. Flamengo — Copa Libertadores, Serie A, Campeonato Carioca. The strongest argument for a non-European winner. They beat Palmeiras 1-0 in the 2025 Copa Libertadores final and have kept winning since, despite losing manager Filipe Luís in March. The Intercontinental Cup defeat to PSG on penalties is the one blemish that likely costs them any real shot here. South America's best, but that ceiling has its limits in this particular vote.
3. Arsenal — Premier League, Champions League runners-up, Carabao Cup runners-up. Mikel Arteta finally delivered the Premier League title — Arsenal's first in over two decades — losing just four games and finishing seven points clear of City. The glass-half-empty view is they reached two finals and lost both. The glass-half-full view is that this club is genuinely back. Either way, a Champions League runners-up finish tends to count against you in a vote where the winner almost always holds the trophy.
2. Bayern Munich — Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal. Vincent Kompany's side led the Bundesliga from Gameweek 1 to the final whistle, scoring a record 122 goals in the process. Harry Kane contributed 36 of them. They lost just once in the league. They also won the domestic cup. The Champions League semifinal against PSG was one of the matches of the season — and Bayern lost it. That's ultimately the separator between second and first.
PSG Are Simply in a Different Category
1. Paris Saint-Germain — Ligue 1, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup. Four trophies. Back-to-back European titles. Luis Enrique turned a club that spent a decade being defined by its failures in Europe into continental royalty — twice over. They beat Bayern in the semis, they beat Flamengo to lift the Intercontinental Cup, and they strolled through Ligue 1 as expected.
Four of the five previous Club of the Year winners lifted the Champions League. PSG did. The October ceremony in London is looking like a formality.
