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Ballon d’Or awards for world’s best soccer players in 2026 moves from Paris to London

LONDON (AP) — The Ballon d’Or ceremony to crown the best men’s and women’s players in soccer is moving from its traditional Paris home to London in October.

The venue change for the Oct. 26 ceremony marks the 70th anniversary of the first award won by England great Stanley Matthews, co-organizers France Football magazine and UEFA said on Thursday.

London also is the home city of England record scorer Harry Kane and the Arsenal team which won its first Premier League title in 22 years and plays for a first Champions League title on Saturday against Paris Saint-Germain.

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games of a standout season for German champion Bayern Munich. That career-best total included 14 in the Champions League, where Bayern was edged by PSG in the semifinals, plus five more for England in a World Cup qualifying group.

The men’s Ballon d’Or in Paris last year was won by Ousmane Dembélé after PSG won its first Champions League title.

Dembélé scored 19 in 39 games for PSG this season and started only 11 games in the Ligue 1 title campaign. He has seven goals in the Champions League ahead of facing Arsenal, including a key goal against Bayern, though he missed five of France’s six World Cup qualifying games while injured.

The winner of the past three women’s Ballon d’Or awards, Aitana Bonmatí, missed most of the season through injury, returning at the end of Barcelona’s quadruple-winning season that has included another Champions League title last Saturday against OL Lyonnes.

Ballon d’Or voters are a global panel of journalists who each pick their top 10 from a shortlist of 30 players presented by France Football, L’Equipe newspaper and UEFA.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

NYPD says dozens rescued from human trafficking during World Cup

By WTOP Staff
▶ Watch Video: Inside look at security preparations for World Cup Forty-three people, including seven minors, were rescued from human traffickers during the World Cup matches in the New York City area, according to the New York City Police Department's Special Victims Unit.The rescue operations were carried out between June 11 and July 19 by specialized NYPD detectives who arrested 89 individuals."The surprise was really the outpouring of support behind the mission and the collaboration with all our partners," said Inspector Gary Marcus, commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit.Those rescued, largely the victims of sex trafficking, are now being supported with an array of social services for the victims, including food, housing and counseling.The 87 operations carried out during the World Cup have generated new leads, officials said, and law enforcement agencies are building more cases based on the investigations already underway."We have ongoing investigations now as a result of these operations," an NYPD official told CBS News.Major sporting events are known to law enforcement as hotbeds of human trafficking.Years in advance, the NYPD devoted significant resources to preparing for the World Cup. Eight matches were played at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, including the final on Sunday."When we talk about the outreach and the prep we do, a large part of that involved visiting the known sex offenders, particularly the known human traffickers, in our registry," Marcus said. "Whether they're on parole or probation for human trafficking, we visited them to make sure they're compliant with the terms of their release, and secondly, to let them know that the NYPD is watching."The matches were held in multiple cities around the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Preparations to secure those games and prepare for crimes like human trafficking were coordinated between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.Police departments in many locations that hosted World Cup matches have made arrests and rescues connected to human trafficking, including in Georgia, New England and Missouri. Nationally, there were more than 673 arrests on human-trafficking charges made during the World Cup, and 61 adults and 13 minors rescued, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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