Ballon d'Or in London: Yamal Best Young Player for Third Straight Year, Spain's De la Fuente Best Coach

Football's most prestigious individual awards ceremony, the Ballon d'Or, has been held in London for the first time. The event was staged in London to honour England's Stanley Matthews, the first Ballon d'Or winner in 1956.

The ceremony is traditionally held in France, and since 2019 it has taken place at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. At the London Palladium, the ceremony began 45 minutes later than scheduled, with a performance by singer-songwriter Jorja Smith.

Andriy Shevchenko, the 2004 Ballon d'Or winner, presented the best young talent award. Lamine Yamal, one of the contenders for the Ballon d'Or itself, won the award for the third time in a row.

Thierry Henry asked Yamal: “Your third award, but tonight is this the one you wanted to get...”

Yamal, the men's young player of the year, said: “I am honoured to be here and to receive this award. I would have been happy to see my teammate Cubarsí here, because I think this award should have been his. He has been playing in great form for a long time.”

He added: “I have come here for this award three years in a row. I want to thank my club and my national team.”

Barcelona and Spain forward Vicky López won the women's best young talent award for the second year in a row. Lucy Bronze presented her with the trophy. Both players to have won this award so far are from Barcelona.

Barcelona's Pere Romeu was named women's coach of the year. Former Liverpool and Real Madrid coach Rafa Benítez presented the award.

Romeu said he was happy to be there and to receive the award, thanked everyone and congratulated the others. He said: “I think this is a team award, recognition of the collective achievement of everyone in the team. I am sincerely grateful to all the footballers who were with me last season.”

There was a warm moment in the ceremony with well-wishes for nominee Vincent Kompany. He is currently recovering after collapsing ill at Bayern Munich's training ground last Friday.

Spain's dominance continued through the night. Luis de la Fuente, who led Spain to the World Cup title, won the coach of the year award.

De la Fuente said: “Good evening, receiving this award is a great honour for me. Just being on this list of nominees is a great thing. I want to thank the other nominees, because their contribution was also enough to win this award.”

He added: “This is not an individual award. It is the success of a whole team, a great team. Training you and working with you is an honour for me. I want to thank the Spanish Football Federation.”