‎Who will win the 2026 Ballon D'or?

[Shadiq]

Some in this list are ahead in terms of individual achievements and some are ahead in terms of their team achievements. Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe were far ahead in terms of individual achievements last season, no one is even close to them in terms of individual achievements. But these two players could not see any significant performance on the big stage, so I have doubts about them too.

The remaining three, Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal and Rodri, are ahead in terms of team achievements, but their individual performances are not significant. Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele have team achievements and their performances were also average, so it would be wrong to put anyone ahead for the Ballon d'Or with this average performance.
Although Messi and Vinicius Junior can be placed on this list, they cannot be considered favorites. Although Messi's performance in the World Cup was great, his achievements and performance in club football are questionable. If Messi had won the World Cup, he might have been on the list of favorites. But I still don't think anyone is a favorite, any of the names mentioned above could win this award.

[sergiorus]

In my opinion, Rodri is the frontrunner in the race to win this year's Ballon d'Or, this Spanish midfielder has a great performance in the World Cup this year and his consistent role has made his team win the world cup. In that case, he won the Golden Ball in the World Cup and he has also performed great in the club game. All in all, he has a lot of reputation in the World Cup and the club, so in my opinion he is ahead of the race to win the Ballon d'Or. Moreover, L. Yamal is in great form with Barcelona and his performance in the World Cup, so his chances are also very high, in that case, Rodri is ahead of L. Yamal in the race to win the Ballon d'Or. Moreover, Harry Kane played great in the World Cup and he has many goals, and he has performed quite well at the club level and he is very forward in terms of goals. Again, Mbappe is also a good player and he has potential, although he has not won the trophy but he has many achievements. In my opinion, the four people who are at the top of the Ballon d'Or are.
1. Rodri
2. L. Yamal
3. Harry kane
4. Mbappe

I agree with the ranking. Definitely a Spanish player will take it. Hopefully Rodri, but the mass media machine is pushing Yamal as the new Messi a little bit too much so I'm afraid he's taking it...

Sadly no place for Haaland in it. If only Man City performed a little better last season, then he as one of the best players of the WC (the best in my opinion) could legitimately be among the ones most deserving the Ballon d'Or.

[Gozie51]

~snip~

Usually the Ballon d'Or winner is a tough one especially now that there is no clear picture for the winner. Thus, if Messi had won the world cup then my pick would have been on him and he is not also listed here.

So my consideration will go to:

1. Lamine Yamal for winning the world cup

2. Krian mbappe for golden boot

3. Kane for outstanding performance and third place.

It is usually a difficult task during this selection and we are going to see how it plays out this season.

[Alpha Marine]

The remaining three, Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal and Rodri, are ahead in terms of team achievements, but their individual performances are not significant. Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele have team achievements and their performances were also average, so it would be wrong to put anyone ahead for the Ballon d'Or with this average performance.

I think most of you underestimate the kind of season Lamine had last season. He was one of the best players last season. He showed up in almost every game he played in, even in the games his team lost. He had 24 goals in all competitions and 17 assists. Those are not average numbers. I think he was even the highest goal scorer for his club last season, and he won La Liga Player of the Season. Having a season like that and helping your team to win the World Cup is definitely Ballon d'Or worthy, even though I would put Kane ahead of him.

It would be very bad for Mbappe to win the Ballon d'Or. He did not win a single trophy for club or country. Even though he had a good individual season in terms of goals, he still was not able to win any trophy. If he had won the World Cup as the highest goal scorer, he would have won the Golden Ball, and that would have placed him in the lead for the Ballon d'Or, but he did not even make it to the final.
Left to me, it should either be Harry kane or Lamine Yamal.

[Taricoins]

In my opinion, Rodri is the frontrunner in the race to win this year's Ballon d'Or, this Spanish midfielder has a great performance in the World Cup this year and his consistent role has made his team win the world cup. In that case, he won the Golden Ball in the World Cup and he has also performed great in the club game. All in all, he has a lot of reputation in the World Cup and the club, so in my opinion he is ahead of the race to win the Ballon d'Or. Moreover, L. Yamal is in great form with Barcelona and his performance in the World Cup, so his chances are also very high, in that case, Rodri is ahead of L. Yamal in the race to win the Ballon d'Or. Moreover, Harry Kane played great in the World Cup and he has many goals, and he has performed quite well at the club level and he is very forward in terms of goals. Again, Mbappe is also a good player and he has potential, although he has not won the trophy but he has many achievements. In my opinion, the four people who are at the top of the Ballon d'Or are.
1. Rodri
2. L. Yamal
3. Harry kane
4. Mbappe

I don't agree even the slightest as Rodri was not really good in the league and even in the Champions League majorly because of the severe injury he was coming from. I even remember that press Conference when Pep was reassuring the fans after being criticized for his Man City performance and Pep was saying Rodri will come back strong and he did in the World Cup but that doesn't push him to the top of the ranking when people like Mbappe has been consistent in all competitions, it's just sad that he doesn't have a collective trophy to back him up.

I would really go for Harry Kane as a second option because of the season he has had with Bayern but still the World Cup of Yamal is realy threatening.

[Somto9Light]

I don't agree even the slightest as Rodri was not really good in the league and even in the Champions League majorly because of the severe injury he was coming from. I even remember that press Conference when Pep was reassuring the fans after being criticized for his Man City performance and Pep was saying Rodri will come back strong and he did in the World Cup but that doesn't push him to the top of the ranking when people like Mbappe has been consistent in all competitions, it's just sad that he doesn't have a collective trophy to back him up.

I would really go for Harry Kane as a second option because of the season he has had with Bayern but still the World Cup of Yamal is realy threatening.

When we talk about individual awards, it can be difficult at times to arrive at a conclusion, because different people have different things they value and consider. For some, it can be the player’s performance in the entire season, while others may consider the player’s performance in major tournaments and competitions, or how many trophies has helped to win.

[BALIK]

Three aspects are considered in awarding the Ballon d'or.

• Class and Fair Play
• Individual Performances
• Team Performances and Achievements

A player cannot win the Ballon d'or just by performing well.
His on-field performance should be good, even his team's performance has to be good.

1. Yamal: Compared to Mbappe and Hane, he is far behind in terms of goals. But he won two important titles like La League title and World Cup.
In the 2023 Ballon d'or we saw that Messi won the Ballon d'or because of his incredible performance in the World Cup.
There is a possibility of a repeat of the incident in the case of Yamal.

2. Harry Kane: Scored a lot of goals last season. Won the Bundesliga title. In the last season, he scored the highest goals across all platforms.
But his performance was good even on the World Cup platform. But could not qualify for the finals.

3.Mbappe: I would consider Mbappe the unluckiest.
Performed incredibly well. He is the top scorer of Champions League, La liga and World Cup.
But could not win a single title. This is one of the reasons why Mbappe will lag behind Kane and Yamal

[Hypnotizer]

Kane has scored 14 goals in the Champions League, just one less than Mbappe. At the World Cup he scored 6 goals, which is much less than Mbappe (10), but still very good. If you compare titles, Kane is much better than Mbappé. Mbappé also has a huge disadvantage: he hasn't won a single major title since joining Real Madrid. On the one hand, this is not always critical, but when we are talking about Real Madrid and the player who is expected to become a new legend in its squad, it is of great importance. I think Mbappe is completely out of the discussion this year.

I’d consider mbappe for the top spot in the speculative ranking though, my reasons being that the Ballon D’or is an individual award.. if not for the fact that “ their criteria changes every year just to fit who they later give” lol, I think mbappe deserves it, Golden boots in all the competitions/tournaments he participated in.. that’s impressive as a personal performance.

But still I think Kane has a better shot at it this year, his performance is also very impressive and he won trophies, but the Ballon D’or can be so unpredictable sometimes.

Yamal won't win the prize due to politics, plus the fact that voters will split their votes between him and Rodri. That leaves only Kane, who's the ideal candidate.

Well it’d make sense for an English player to win the award the first time it would be hosted in his home country.. and Kane is over thirty probably going to retire soon, it’d be really cool if he wins it atleast once in his career.

[Rruchi man]

‎
‎Drop your opinions 👇👇

Dembele is still a candidate that I put in third position, because he still performed brilliantly at the World Cup with the contribution of goals and assists. But of course, the winners of the World Cup trophy often give players special tickets to the Ballon d'or, Yamal and Rodri are at the forefront.

I feel before mentioning Mbappe for France, Dembele should be mentioned first. He had a good season for the club and was very instrumental in the World Cup for the French side, scoring 6 goals and giving two assists. it is just that Mbappe scored more goals and usually gets the attention in any team he is in.

If it is not Dembele, then it has to be Harry Kane. He had a good season with Bayern and a good World Cup too.

[Jatiluhung]

The FIFA Ballon d'Or award ranking has always been about individual brilliance, achievement, and honors. Despite Mbappe not being able to win a major trophy last season, he is the most exceptional player in the FIFA award ranking and won the most individual honors as well as the best performance in all the competitions he participated in.

Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane are also ones to look out for in the 2026 Ballon d'Or award. Their goal contributions for a single season are incredible especially that of Harry.

I also think that for the 2026 season, Harry Kane is a player who  deserves this award. His goal scoring record in the 2025–26 season was truly extraordinary. In fact, it wasn’t just the 2025–26 season, the previous season was just as impressive. This player, who is no longer young, has remained consistent in his performance, which actually peaked even higher in the 2025–2026 season.

Here are the total goals and details I’ve compiled for Harry Kane in the 2025–26 season, including the World Cup

At Bayern Munich
- 36 goals in the Bundesliga in 31 appearances
- 14 goals in the UCL in 13 appearances
- 10 goals in the DFB Cup in 6 appearances
- 1 goal in the DFL-Supercup in 1 appearance.

For the England national team
- 8 goals in World Cup qualifiers and international matches
- 6 goals in the 2026 World Cup

So, it looks like Harry Kane scored a total of around 75 goals during the 2025–26 season. and I think with this record, he deserves to be the top contender.

[ILuckyGuyI]

I saw people discussing potential 2026 Ballon d'Or winner on this thread also: 2025 Ballon d’Or Prediction thread

But I guess it's better to do so under a new thread as the previous one wasn't a general topic.  

Kane is currently top favoured name to be awarded it. He has 2.25 odds for that. Bayern Munich and England both were able to reach semi finals only but still he is at the top according to bookies.



Could this be a sign that the World Cup winner doesn't actually guarantee this prize also? We'll see about it late October this year! Honestly I also think Kane deserves that. It's just a huge goal contribution by him this season.

[ArabBTC]

If you carefully look at the statistics this past season you will observe that only a few players really had good number of goals, assist with trophies altogether, some players had goals and assist but didn’t secure any trophy for either their club or country side which is actually the reason why FIFA is considering using the rule of individual performance regardless of trophies, amongst all the 5 players under consideration i prefer this ballon d’Or is giving to Harry Kane, firstly he has been very consistent over the years and even this season with lots of goals and assist including winning the league for his club side with DFL-Super cup and coming 3rd in the World Cup, apart from all this trophies his individual play has been super exceptional, even in some matches that his team loses if you can take time to analyze each of his individual touches you will observe that they are always exceptional, quality and consistency are birds of same feather and i find this two qualities in Harry Kane.

[Smartprofit]

I think Yamal has the best chance! People tend to remember recent events well. Spain's victory at the World Cup happened just recently. Young Yamal made a huge contribution to the Spanish football team's victory. I think this is a compelling reason to award him the Ballon d'Or 🙋

Yamal is a 19 year-old football prodigy. I think it would be very symbolic to award him the Ballon d'Or and officially declare the Yamal era.

After all, Spain won the World Cup, and now all other football teams will have to emulate them in one way or another. Of all the contenders, Yamal will be the one we'll admire for the next 15 years. Of course, I may not be taking into account certain political factors that could prevent Yamal from receiving this award. Unfortunately, the machinations of envious people could harm him. But for me personally, this choice seems very logical.💁

[Frankolala]

OP, you should include Lionel Messi in the list because he's FIFA'S boy but I don't think that he will win it this time. I saw his name among the list. I feel that Kane or Yamal has the highest chance of winning Ballon D'or but let's watch out and see who wins it. Kane performance was brilliant in all the competitions he took part in.

[Ummeettaa]

There is no certainty yet on who to win the 2026 ballon d"Or for now, because the ballon d'Or ranking keep changing as time goes on.

As of today, Lamin Yamal is the 1st in the ranking, followed by Lionel Messi, then Harry Kane, then Osman Dembele and finally Kylian Mbape.

There was a time that Osman Dembele was leading the ranking for a long time, but as it stands now he is in the 4th place of the ranking.

There had also been a time that Kylian Mbape was also the most favourite to win the Ballon d'Or but he is now the 5th place in the list of the ranking.

And presently even as Lamin Yamal is the most favourite and tops the Ballon d'Or ranking, it can also change before the deed day of the announcement.

Those are my reason why I said, there are no certainty on who to win the 2026 Ballon d'Or as of now, but we all can or just hope and can assume but no sure of who to win.

[BluebloodCXVI]

At this point i don’t even envy the voters at all because right now how to decide who the ballon d’or goes to has become kinda difficult to decide.

Assuming Argentina were able to win the World Cup and Messi was able to win the golden ball, it would have been very easy for us to say Messi would win it.
But since Argentina didn’t win the World Cup, I suppose Messi’s ratings would have dropped significantly, so he’s out of the picture already.

As for Lamine yamal, he doesn’t deserve the ballon d’or at all.
He didn’t do anything significant in the World Cup; bro has only one goal through out the whole tournament lmao.
And before anybody will come to me and say “oh but he won the Laliga”, ok he won it and so ?
Did he win champions league ?, no
Did he make any significant contribution in the World Cup?, no
So he’s out of it.

My prediction on who the ballon d’or winner is gonna be is between Kane and Mbappe
I’m leaning towards Mbappe though; that’s my boy 😎

Harry kane has bragging rights too but i feel like he doesn’t just have enough PR backing up his name, people don’t really know him well outside of his country men.

At the end of the day the winner of the award is gonna be determined by votes, people need to know you to vote for you and Mbappe seems to tip the scale in that aspect.

[TastyChillySauce00]

I saw people discussing potential 2026 Ballon d'Or winner on this thread also: 2025 Ballon d’Or Prediction thread

But I guess it's better to do so under a new thread as the previous one wasn't a general topic.  

Kane is currently top favoured name to be awarded it. He has 2.25 odds for that. Bayern Munich and England both were able to reach semi finals only but still he is at the top according to bookies.



Could this be a sign that the World Cup winner doesn't actually guarantee this prize also? We'll see about it late October this year! Honestly I also think Kane deserves that. It's just a huge goal contribution by him this season.

Being favored in term of odds doesn't guarantee Kane to win Ballon D'or. If you have been a regular football fan, you should have remembered when Rodri's odds flipped Vini's odds during 23/24 Ballon D'or. The surprised thing was that it's happened at the day of result.
At that time Vini was scored a lot and he won UCL. It means scored a lot or winning multiple trophies didn't guarantee to win Ballon D'or. Who knows Yamal might have greater odds than Kane, but he will flipped Kane's odds at the day of Ballon D'or award.

I just tell you the fact that metrics to pick, which player is gonna win it is much more complicated than you think.

[sergiorus]

OP, you should include Lionel Messi in the list because he's FIFA'S boy but I don't think that he will win it this time. I saw his name among the list. I feel that Kane or Yamal has the highest chance of winning Ballon D'or but let's watch out and see who wins it. Kane performance was brilliant in all the competitions he took part in.

Nah, zero chance imho. It would piss so many people off. I'm willing to believe there are certain people up there willing to risk it all and push his again this time but nothing beats the common sense.

I'm sure he won't even be in the top-3 as two of those spots will obviously be taken by Spanish players and the 3rd one has some stiff competition but it will be Mbappe or Kane, certainly not Messi.

[ASloveapg]

OP, you should include Lionel Messi in the list because he's FIFA'S boy but I don't think that he will win it this time. I saw his name among the list. I feel that Kane or Yamal has the highest chance of winning Ballon D'or but let's watch out and see who wins it. Kane performance was brilliant in all the competitions he took part in.

I don't see much chance of Lionel Messi this time. He is the second highest scorer in the World Cup, anyway.
If Harry Kane wins the Ballon D'or this time, I would be the happiest, I think his style of play is great in every match, his game is consistent and he is a great player for Bayern Munich. But Yamal is also good in this respect, and Yamal is the current World Cup winner, so his chances are good too.
But personally, I would say Kylian Mbappé, he is very good in his position, the only misfortune is that he has not won a title, but his attack is one of the best.
My ranking would be
Harry Kane
Kylian Mbappé
Yamal

[Sally9256]

No Cristiano Ronaldo? In that case, let them give the ball to Messi, so that no new riots break out in Argentina

Look, whoever wins an award, there will always be those who think someone else should have won it. Do you remember 2018 when Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or? It's not like most people were happy that the winner was someone who wasn't from a big country - even though Croatia played in the World Cup final that year.

Hahaha... For Argentines it must all be Messi.

Right, No matter how fairly it is being organized there will definitely be those who will think the winner doesn't deserve it. Some Messi fans will be out there rooting for Messi to win the award and if he doesn't they'll think it's being biased. The Modric award was almost certainly not to be his but the world cup performance boosted his chances of winning. I think the award has lost his credibility a few years back since majority of the award won doesn't usually satisfy alot of people and somehow seems off and kinda biased to the general public. I think a lot of people disagree because of different criteria used to award it each year.

I think for the award this year the competition will be a very tight one since no player stands out.