2025 Ballon d’Or Prediction thread

[Adbitco]

I don't really know but it still baffles me to learn that in all the journalists voting in the Balloon d'Or, non of them, I mean not a single one of the journalists voted for Raphinha as the first person. Isn't it really worrisome? Out of 100 journalist that voted, I think that's the slot for them, not a single one of them saw Raphinha worthy of the award. This is a big joke to the award organisers. This clearly shows that, these guys don't even know what they are doing, how do you give voting powers to bunch of journalists?

[M47AK16]

I don't think the thing they did to Raphinha is fair. He had a wonderful season with a huge score contribution. His team reached the semi finals in the Champions League as well. But he got only 620 points in the end. 

Yamal really has a big support by the media. I don't say he was bad of course. But Raphinha should have been much closer to him than this at least. I don't think the voting is completely fair as a result.

Honestly, the Ballon D'or voting seemed unfair. I think it prioritizes name value over actual performance. It's disappointing to see Pedri ranked 11th and Cole Palmer 8th. To be honest, the results weren't fair. Pedri deserves better than Cole Palmer, given their performance ratings. Cole Palmer's performance was well recognized in the Club World Cup, but Pedri's achievements warrant a higher ranking, he should be ranked alongside Vitinah.

I was shocked to see Vitinah. ranked above Raphinha that was disappointing also, I knew they both contributed greatly to their clubs success. Raphinha was the better contender, not Yamal, As a Barca fan, I admit Yamal is a media favorite, but Raphinha was denied a top-two spot unfairly. Despite that, I think he deserved better than being ranked below Vitinah. and Salah.

It has been fairly like that for a long time. When a player is the best player in a team that won something, that player gets a huge advantage. But when we look at it, the fact that both Yamal and Raphinha are from Barcelona, so "team success" isn't a thing for comparing them, they are on the same team, and Raphinha did a lot more on stats than Yamal as well, and yet he is somehow not as highly ranked as Yamal, makes no sense.

So in many cases, Ballon D'or is not the reward for the best player of the year, sometimes it does feel that way because it does go to best one, but sometimes it is the player with the best PR team as well. This is why it's not always that easy to accept the winners, because sometimes it's really silly.

[red4slash]

After the World Cup is over, the ranks of ballon d'Or candidates are starting to get crowded again and there are some names that are sure to enter such as Dembele, Mbappe, Haaland, Messi, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Harry Kane.

But looking at some of the data available now it looks like Lamine Yamal is still a strong candidate to get the ballon d'or now. It's just that if the benchmark still remains the same as before of course Kane or Messi also still be worthy to be in the strong candidates now.
Although the euphoria of the ballon d'or in recent seasons is still quite declining for me but it is interesting to wait for who will lift this now.

Ballon d'or 2026 Power Rankings

Although in the World Cup England was ranked 3rd but I expect Kane to succeed for the ballon d'Or this time.

[kizilhare]

After the World Cup is over, the ranks of ballon d'Or candidates are starting to get crowded again and there are some names that are sure to enter such as Dembele, Mbappe, Haaland, Messi, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Harry Kane.

But looking at some of the data available now it looks like Lamine Yamal is still a strong candidate to get the ballon d'or now. It's just that if the benchmark still remains the same as before of course Kane or Messi also still be worthy to be in the strong candidates now.
Although the euphoria of the ballon d'or in recent seasons is still quite declining for me but it is interesting to wait for who will lift this now.

Ballon d'or 2026 Power Rankings

Although in the World Cup England was ranked 3rd but I expect Kane to succeed for the ballon d'Or this time.

Harry Kane, who stood out with the goals he scored across all competitions throughout the year, is—in my opinion, too—the top contender.
All the players mentioned are top-quality names, but Kane is the leading candidate.
Spain won the World Cup, but Rodri didn't contribute much in the Premier League last season.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were a surprise winner this year. Yamal is my dark horse candidate.

[Princess Leah]

After the World Cup is over, the ranks of ballon d'Or candidates are starting to get crowded again and there are some names that are sure to enter such as Dembele, Mbappe, Haaland, Messi, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Harry Kane.

But looking at some of the data available now it looks like Lamine Yamal is still a strong candidate to get the ballon d'or now. It's just that if the benchmark still remains the same as before of course Kane or Messi also still be worthy to be in the strong candidates now.
Although the euphoria of the ballon d'or in recent seasons is still quite declining for me but it is interesting to wait for who will lift this now.

Ballon d'or 2026 Power Rankings

Although in the World Cup England was ranked 3rd but I expect Kane to succeed for the ballon d'Or this time.

After Rodri won the world I expected him to go up in any ranking so I wasn't suprised at seeing him in the position he's on the list but why would Mikel Oyarzabal ranking above David Raya? He's a Champions League finalist, Premier league winner and also a World Cup winner, he should be ranking higher.

 Well this isn't the main list so I'm expecting something better when the main list is out. No matter what they want to do Messi shouldn't win this year's Ballon d'Or award, it should either be given to Dembélé, Harry Kane or Yamal. Harry Kane did pretty good in the UCL and Bundesliga and since England finished 3rd in the World Cup he seem like the best candidate to me.

[KTChampions]

The current quotes are:

Harry Kane - 2.50

Lamine Yamal - 3.00

Mbappe Kylian - 4.50

Rodri - 4.50

Messi Lionel - 6.00

Dembele Ousmane - 21.00

Jude Bellingham - 21.00

Ruiz Fabian - 26.00

Michael Olise - 26.00

Erling Haaland - 36.00

For me personally, it's obvious that if the scam factor (another award for Messi) doesn't work, then the outcome is pretty obvious - Yamal won't be given it because he performed mediocrely at the World Cup and because of politics. Mbappe is out because he hasn't won anything this season in terms of titles.
That leaves Kane and Rodri. It's hard to pick one over the other, but if we take the season as a whole, I'd go with Kane.
Considering that the start of the season will also give additional points in the player's favor (although it is formally not taken into account), Kane has a better chance since he will continue to shine with Bayern.
So, easy money: a million on Kane, half a million on Rodri, there will be a profit in either case 

[el che]

Let's just save everyone the trouble and give it to Messi again, right?

The race is complicated this year and could go in a few different directions. Since it's a World Cup year, the tournament outcome usually carries massive weight, so my guess is it will end up going to Rodri. You could mention a PSG star like Dembele given his club success but a quieter World Cup run definitely hurts his case. As for Harry Kane despite his staggering goal numbers, not securing anything outside of domestic trophies with Bayern will probably hold him back from taking the top spot.

It's going to be a wild vote, but my heart still goes to Messi. Reaching another World Cup final while putting up 8 goals and 4 assists was incredible, epecially at 39, if you ask me he accomplished much more during the tournament and deserved the Golden Ball over Rodri.

[ArabBTC]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

[Saltysugar99]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

The point here is that if Messi could have won the FIFA World Cup,  like if Argentina had won this World Cup as well, then there would have been no doubt that Messi would have won the Ballon d'Or. It would have been pretty much confirmed that Messi would have won the Ballon d'Or. Because winning the World Cup is a big fact. But overall, Messi has performed very well throughout the year, including this World Cup. Considering all these aspects, Messi should have won the Ballon d'Or this time. Because he is a worthy performer for this time. Dembélé, Harry Kane will be ahead, I will also put Haaland ahead, but I will put Lamine behind them on the list of Ballon d'Or winners.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

[Umulala-alala]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

If they give it to Messi that's robbery though nothing surprises us again even though it's been given to Messi it won't be the first time they have done it. Harry Kane deserve the Ballon d' or he did excellently last season won the Bundesliga title with Bayern munich and the DFB pokal also had the highest goal with 36 goals in the league and Harry Kane wasn't also hidden in the last world cup and won the Bronze with England so this award should go to Kane if access properly.

[Silikiem]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

If they give it to Messi that's robbery though nothing surprises us again even though it's been given to Messi it won't be the first time they have done it. Harry Kane deserve the Ballon d' or he did excellently last season won the Bundesliga title with Bayern munich and the DFB pokal also had the highest goal with 36 goals in the league and Harry Kane wasn't also hidden in the last world cup and won the Bronze with England so this award should go to Kane if access properly.

If not that Kylian Mbappe went trophyless in all competitions he played last season, by now we wouldn’t be having this kind of conversation about who will win the ballon Dior. This guy was really on fire last season, he won the highest goal scorer in laliga, won the highest goal scorer in the champions league, and also won the highest goal scorer in the just concluded FIFA World Cup where he broke and made a record of being the only player with the highest goal in a single FIFA World Cup season. I think he still deserves a place in this conversation even at that because for me he was one of the best players last season and only failed to win a single trophy.

[OsaiEmma]

I would have just gone with Dembele right out off the bat if he had won or reached the finals in the just concluded world cup because his stats in the champions League are looking good. Dembele has 18 goals and 6 assists in just 15 games; he also won the UCL. But with Yamal winning the World cup, I guess it will be a fierce competition. Anyways, this award is mostly by voting, so let's see how it goes and what the outcome will be.

[Bigjoe33]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

Yea. I totally agree with you on this. There players who performed far better. I would even put Mbappe, Dembele and Lamal far ahead of him. I mean Messi is aged, despite he did well for his country during the world cup, I believe he is no where near these players mentioned above, Harry Kane not out of the contest. Those guys were really in show, not just in this world cup, but also in Europe last season. Declan Rice also worked hard too, and so many others. Messi shouldn't be in the equation at all. We could say he did well, yea. But not to be mentioned or seen as someone to win the Balloon d'or'. I think there are better players to be considered rather than mentioning Messi in this Contest

[Warkop]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

I completely agree with what you said, that Messi shouldn't be in the running for this year's Ballon d'Or, as he plays in the MLS, just like Ronaldo and Neymar, who play outside of Europe.

Harry Kane certainly deserves it, but on the other hand, we can look at other candidates like Yamine Lamal, who wasn't very good at the World Cup despite winning it. Ousmane Dembele won the domestic league and the Champions League, plus led France to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup. I think Ousmane Dembele deserves another Ballon d'Or this year.

[Betwrong]

So, if it's about 2026 now, here's my opinion. I think Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid will be crowned Ballon d’Or 2026 in October this year.
As of others in the top 10: Harry Kane, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal are definitely going to be there. I'm not sure about the others, Maybe Vinícius Júnior, Rodri ... I don't know. I others have no chances.

[ArabBTC]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

I won’t agree with you that Messi should not be in a Ballon d’Or conversation, that statement is completely unacceptable for a player of Messi class who happens to be a brand as long as world football is concerned, ballon d’Or just as FIFA has stated shouldn’t be based on just title won, individual performance should also be kept in perspective/view for choice for a ballon d’Or winner, Messi individual performance this season has been extremely impressive in fact the World Cup was extremely interesting because of his performance, the whole social media influence was because of the numerous Argentina come backs and you know categorically that it was because of Messi impact. Even in his club side he has done well so to me given Messi the Ballon d’Or won’t be bad, he deserves it. Apart from trophies if you check the individual performance of other players like Dembele, Kane etc you can’t confidently say they outshined Messi.

[sotelorene]

Are we really sure that Messi won’t be part of the contenders? because their is a worrisome post i saw yesterday which stated that ‘you don’t need to win a trophy before you will be eligible for Ballon d’or’ so am thinking that somehow FIFA might still smuggle Messi into the equation, Messi really performed well in this just concluded 2026 World Cup and has also been exceptional in his club side Inter Miami and if you ask me i will prefer he wins this year’s Ballon d’or. If a neural person is to be picked apart from Messi i will suggest it should be Ousmane Dambele or Yamine Lamal, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland in an order of preference.

Messi should never be in the conversation for this title. MAYBE if they won the world cup he could have made a case for himself, but other than that what did he accomplish?? This guys plays in the MLS for christ sake. Every half way decent striker right now would dominate in that league. Scoring there is so easy, and he has strong teammates that open the way for easy goals as well.

In my opinion Kane is the only option here. He won 2 titles in Germany, played well in the UCL as well as in the world cup, aaaand he shot a LOT of goals in the Bundesliga as well as any other competition he participated in.

If they give it to Messi that's robbery though nothing surprises us again even though it's been given to Messi it won't be the first time they have done it. Harry Kane deserve the Ballon d' or he did excellently last season won the Bundesliga title with Bayern munich and the DFB pokal also had the highest goal with 36 goals in the league and Harry Kane wasn't also hidden in the last world cup and won the Bronze with England so this award should go to Kane if access properly.

I know Messi was among the highest goal scorer in the world cup and I think he has the highest assist and some statistics but I don't think he is qualified to win the award this time around. Harry Kane won trophies and has  a lot of goals but you should know that he didn't win any major trophy like Champions league or the world cup so I don't think he is qualified too and Dembele would have win it again if won the world cup because he has the champions league already, I'm seeing Lamine Yamal but he doesn't have goals like others...

[Velvet78]

I have checked out the pages a little and haven't seen a new thread for 2026 Ballon d'Or. Therefore I assume we can continue from here for that. Let's see...

We left the World Cup behind a short time ago. Spain won it. We all know the impact of this tournament and Champions League on the votes for the winner of this prize.

The current odds:

- Kane: 2.50
- Yamal: 3.00
- Mbappe: 4.50
- Rodri: 4.50
- Messi: 6.00

The closest to them behind is Dembele with 21.00 odds. It must be due to missing a ton of games this season. By the way I wasn't waiting for Kane to be top favourite.  

[SuperBitMan]

So, if it's about 2026 now, here's my opinion. I think Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid will be crowned Ballon d’Or 2026 in October this year.
As of others in the top 10: Harry Kane, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal are definitely going to be there. I'm not sure about the others, Maybe Vinícius Júnior, Rodri ... I don't know. I others have no chances.

I agree with you that kylian mbappe should be given the Ballon d’Or, he has done very well when it comes to individual performances. I know he didn’t lift any trophy but he won top scorer award in this year’s World Cup tournament, in La Liga he did same thing and lastly in champions league he did same thing too. This is a great individual achievement and for that he deserves the Ballon d’Or.
If they don’t give it to him i wonder who else deserves it. If Lionel Messi won the World Cup they would have given it to him. But since he didn’t win it the only person that deserves it more right now is Mbappe.