The 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony began with a reminder of a new award being handed out: the Play of the Year Award.

The award will recognize the best team action of 2025—a moment of spectacular team play where players beautifully combined and crowned the action with a goal. The Play of the Year award shouldn’t be mistaken for the Puskás award, though, which recognizes the best goal scored over the past year.

There are five nominees for the 2025 Play of the Year award. Contrary to all other accolades being handed out in the 2025 ceremony, the Play of the Year award will be decided by the fans, with people from around the world being able to vote for the winner.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Ballon d'Or 2025 Best Play of the Year award.

Ballon d’Or 2025 Best Play of the Year: Nominees

The five nominees for the award are a mix of plays from both clubs and national teams.

Andreas Pereira’s goal for the Brazilian national team in a win against Peru in the World Cup qualifiers is the first nominee. Luis Henriqué took on his man and sent in a precise cross that Pereira buried into the back of the net with an masterful, acrobatic scissor-kick.

Even though Lionel Messi didn’t get nominated for the 2025 Ballon d’Or, he’s significantly involved in one of the plays nominees with Inter Miami. Messi played a perfect one-two with Luis Suárez to get away from his man and then threaded a beautiful through-ball for Jordi Alba to score. It was the Herons equalizer against New York Red Bulls as they went on to win 5–1.

Paris Saint-Germain’s third goal against Inter Milan in the 2024–25 Champions League final is the third nominee. A masterful run from Vitinha, adorned by a delightful back-heel pass from Ousmané Dembélé was crowned by a perfect finish from Désiré Doué to essentially clinch the trophy.

Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick for Real Madrid against Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 playoff. His second goal of the night merited a nomination. Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo combined in a silky-smooth passing sequence before the ball fell to Mbappé. The Frenchman then got away from Joško Gvardiol and fired a shot into the back of the net.

The Spain national team earned the final nomination for its fifth goal against France in the UEFA Nations League semifinals. La Roja started building from the back and kept the ball for over half a minute until Pedro Porro assisted Lamine Yamal. The Ballon d’Or runner-up and two-time Kopa Trophy winner tucked the ball past Mike Maignan to tie a bow on a masterful action from the European champions.

Ballon d'Or 2025 Best Play of the Year: How to Vote, Reveal Date

To vote for the Play of the Year award, you must create an account on the Ballon d’Or website.

Then, fans will have to pay a €1 fee to cast your vote. The payment also gives you access to a high-resolution photo that you can print. Once you cast your vote, you’ll get a chance to win two tickets to attend the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony.

Fans can vote multiple times, though each new vote entry will require a new payment of the fee.

The 2025 Play of the Year winner will be revealed on Sept. 26, on the Ballon d’Or website and social media.

READ THE LATEST ON THE BALLON D'OR 2025—NEWS, NOMINEES AND RANKINGS


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ballon d’Or 2025 Best Play of the Year: Nominees, How to Vote, Reveal Date .

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