In recent years, Afrobeats at the Ballon d’Or has been a novelty. On Monday night at the London Palladium, it became part of the ceremony’s story.
Harry Kane, who is a very vocal fan of the African Giant, took the men’s Ballon d’Or and Alexia Putellas the women’s, but the image many Nigerians will carry from the 70th edition is of Burna Boy on stage, trophy in hand, presenting the Socrates Award to Arsenal and England forward Bukayo Saka.
The welcome began long before the stage. From the moment Burna Boy stepped out of his vehicle, the Ballon d’Or treated him as one of the evening’s marquee guests, and clips of his arrival were spreading online within hours. Being handed a presenting role on the night confirmed it. He was there as an honoured guest with a job to do, not as the entertainment.
The award made the moment richer. The Socrates Award, created in 2022 by France Football with Peace and Sport, recognises humanitarian and social work in football, and Sadio Mane was its first winner. Saka earned it through his work with the charity BigShoe, which has funded life-changing surgeries for children. In 2022 the partnership covered 120 operations in Kano, and a year later it extended to another 100 children across Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. Saka walked up to collect the award with a visible limp, then used his time at the microphone to read a letter from a 14-year-old boy in Rwanda whose eyesight was restored through the programme. He said the honour belonged to every child the charity has reached.
Saka was born in London to Nigerian parents, and the Kano surgeries connect his award back to Nigeria. A Nigerian superstar presented a prize to an England international of Nigerian heritage, for work that changed lives in Nigeria, on one of football’s biggest nights. That is not a coincidence you could script.
It also lands at a perfect point in Burna Boy’s year. He spent the summer on World Cup stages performing alongside Shakira, and in 2021 he and Wizkid released a song called “B. d’Or”, named after this very trophy. Five years later, it’s only right that he is on the stage itself, albeit not performing.
Adekunle Gold’s night corroborates the story from a different angle. He walked the red carpet in London just li Burna Boy, and he confirmed on his Instagram story that he was billed to perform at the after-party. That makes it a second straight year on the Ballon d’Or’s guest list, and this time with a stage waiting for him. Last year in Paris, he was a surprise sighting, swapping greetings with Virgil van Dijk and sparking a wave of pride back home. Twelve months later, he is part of the programme.
The path here has been steady. In October 2023, Rema performed “Calm Down” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, becoming the first African artist to perform at the ceremony. He returned in 2024 as a guest. Then came Adekunle Gold’s invitation in 2025, his return and after party billing in 2026, and now Burna Boy presenting one of the night’s headline honours.
Taken chronologically, the pattern is clear. First came a performance, then a guest, then another guest, and now a presenter handing out one of the night’s headline honours. Afrobeats is no longer just a side attraction at football’s biggest night. It is intentionally being included as a part of the programme. Afrobeats and Sports: A Complete History of Afrobeats at Major Sporting Events