There is something about the glitz of a Champions League final that awakens the Ballon d’Or imagination.On paper, the European competition is no more related to the French award for the player voted best in the world than any of the other continental tournaments, except for their physical proximity to each other. And yet a successful UEFA Champions League campaign — individually or as a team — has proven more effective to securing a Ballon d’Or than every other competition apart from the World Cup.Look no further than the last five awards, split between three-time reigning Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati and two-time winner Alexia Putellas. Both were mainstays on an FC Barcelona team that won four of the last six Champions League finals and featured in all six. (They also lifted the World Cup with Spain in 2023 and made it to the European Championship in 2025.)What is the proper balance between a candidate’s accomplishments for club and country to earn a Ballon d’Or nomination? And how prestigious does each of those teams need to be?One of the more prominent shifts in the women’s game globally has been the emergence of star players from countries outside North America and Europe. Increasingly, they represent those countries at the international level as well, rather than for the country that likely colonized their homeland.By some measures, this has presented a conundrum when assessing a player’s talent for a Ballon d’Or nod. Stark differences in development and investment from national teams and the federations that govern them lead to contrasts in the quality of competition from one region to the next.The weight of those factors has historically tilted toward Europe. It’s time for that to change, and there may be no better player for this departure than Melchie Dumornay of OL Lyonnes in France.Melchie Dumornay has been a crucial part of OL Lyonnes’ success this season. (Kate McShane / Getty Images)After finishing 18th in the Ballon d’Or rankings last year, the Haitian midfielder is well deserving of a top-three finish.It could have been higher had Lyon won the Champions League this year. Instead, the eight-time champions were outplayed by a clinical and composed Barcelona in Saturday’s final by a decisive four goals to nil, but that should not erase Dumornay’s impact on Lyon and across European women’s football. She is among the single most important players to any team’s success, a reality that was on display during Lyon’s semifinal fixtures against 2025 European champions Arsenal.Dumornay was on the bench due to injury in the first leg and Arsenal won 2-1. She returned for the second leg and Lyon won 3-1, which included a sublime assist to German winger Jule Brand to seal their victory. Altogether, Dumornay recorded five goals and an assist in Lyon’s Champions League campaign, and another six goals and seven assists in the French Première Ligue. She has been voted league MVP, and in the league final on Friday, added a hat trick to her tally against Paris FC, whom Lyon beat 5-0. This was on top of their 4-1 French Cup victory over Paris Saint-Germain in May, for which Dumornay also earned best player honors.