‎Who will win the 2026 Ballon D'or?

[EarnOnVictor]

One thing is certain; Ballon d'Or will be given to either Lamine Yamal, Harry Kane, or Kylian Mbappé, and indeed, all of these guys deserve the award. It's not about the number of goals though, but how the goals were delivered, plus other extra considerations and performances that could prove the higher skills.

However, I think Yamal or Kane deserves it more. Better still, Kane should be honoured with it considering his age and the time left for him on the field, as the opportunity may not come again.

Perhaps, Gianni Infantino/FIFA would give it to Lionel Messi again...lol.

[GiftedMAN]

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 the reason why Messi should be included because Argentina did not win the world cup and apart from his roles in making sure that Argentina got to the finals and his number of goals there was no trophy thet is tied to his name this time. FIFA will focus on the younger generation this time and Dembele has a good chance to win it back to back because he won the France Ligue1 with PSG, the champions League and he was also instrumental for France in the world cup.

[Jewan420]

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 the reason why Messi should be included because Argentina did not win the world cup and apart from his roles in making sure that Argentina got to the finals and his number of goals there was no trophy thet is tied to his name this time. FIFA will focus on the younger generation this time and Dembele has a good chance to win it back to back because he won the France Ligue1 with PSG, the champions League and he was also instrumental for France in the world cup.

I also don't like Messi's name on this list, because there is no other reason to win the Ballon d'Or other than a good performance in the World Cup. Although he could have been on this list if he had won the World Cup, I don't know of any other reason besides the runner-up medal. I would put Lamine Yamal and Dembele as favorites for the upcoming Ballon d'Or. If Harry Kane had won either the Champions League or the FIFA World Cup, I would have been sure of him. The same can be said about Mbappe. Their performance is better than everyone else, but they don't have any notable titles.

[leea-1334]

To me, whole year's contribution cannot be measured by just one tournament or one bad gesture. So fairest approach is to balance whole year's consistency, impact on major matches, performance against tough opposition and overall influence throughout year.

I agree,,, but have seen way too many Ballons in the past that ignore an entire year of contribution, refer Lewandowski versus Messi. Not just this one, even Puskas,,, refer Salah's shitty goal even he said was his 7th best or something  

Remember these awards with votes are all about popularity, for right or for wrong  

[Oluwa-btc]

This year, I'm really torn between the options
I don't think any one player has a clear advantage over the others

Some newspapers are also including Vini Jr. and Messi, but I'm not sure if those two are really that big of favorites

If I had to take a guess right now, my best bet would be Harry Kane, based on his performance for both his club and national team

At the end of the day, it all depends on those who cast their votes and not really our opinions dished out here.

Coaches, Journalist, Club Captains and maybe the press are responsible for the voting so we will see who eventually emerged winner.

In my humble opinion, I'd always root for Harry Kane. He had such a perfect season. Infact, the numbers are quite visible enough for everyone to see. I will put him ahead over Ousman Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and also Lionel Messi.

[BIT-BENDER]

I don't know if the official list of top 30 players has been published but I am sure we would see so many familiar faces from the last Ballon dor list just that there would some changes in positions.
One thing that's sure for me is that Dembele won't win the award back to back, even though he won the uefa champions League back to back and the French League 1.
The perfect contenders for me are Lamine Yamal, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Rodri, kylian is very fit to win this award based on his individual contributions but sad for him he wasn't able to use it to help his team win any trophy so that will really count against him. Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane will battle it out with Lamine just edging out the English man.

[Localhostspeed]

One thing is certain; Ballon d'Or will be given to either Lamine Yamal, Harry Kane, or Kylian Mbappé, and indeed, all of these guys deserve the award. It's not about the number of goals though, but how the goals were delivered, plus other extra considerations and performances that could prove the higher skills.

However, I think Yamal or Kane deserves it more. Better still, Kane should be honoured with it considering his age and the time left for him on the field, as the opportunity may not come again.

Perhaps, Gianni Infantino/FIFA would give it to Lionel Messi again...lol.

If Yamal had assists and more goals in the Premier League, he is going to stand a chance in winning Balon D'or because of the world cup final, he did well but if we are too logically used Mbape world cup in 2018, then he is not getting the Ballon D'or but I see him getting another category in the Balon D'or award. I am see this competition between Kane of course well deserved, Mbape tried, he had goals everywhere, if we used Ronaldo 2013 Balon D'or, he has won the same, he stand a chance in this one.

We need to stop this Infantino sentiments and argument because it's not even funny. Messi also deserve it but they are not going to give it to him because he didn't win the world cup and been out of Europe is a disadvantage. If he did maintain the highest goal scorer in the world cup, won the world cup then I don't see anyone in this list that is going to stop him from winning the Balon D'or, nothing sentiments can change anything about it.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

It’s difficult to say, there is no real stand out super star like there obviously was for many years with Ronaldo and Messi winning it.

I would probably say Yamal but he hasn’t really been head and shoulders above everybody else, no player has.

[Callido]

In my opinion, Kane should stay at the top, i do not care about who stays second, third, or last ranking. No player was as good as Harry Kane, if he doesn't get to win the Ballon D'or, i honestly will feel he was robbed of what should have been given to him.

If i'm to vote, Harry Kane for the Ballon D'or, no player touched his individual performance last season.

[Floczy]

You know before the world cup dembele was the one with the highest chance of winning the ballon d'Or, but during the world cup mbappé had a very good performance and he has brought up a big challenge with dembélé.
So to me the two players involved in this ballon d'Or is mbappé and dembélé, the others aren't really part or theis ballon D'or race even if they are counted among the top 5 or ten,

Although Harry Kane seem to be very well in the competition as well tho, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wins it over dembélé and Mbappé, apart from that I don't think there are any other players good enough to win it considering the competition in ground.

[Accardo]

It’s difficult to say, there is no real stand out super star like there obviously was for many years with Ronaldo and Messi winning it.

I would probably say Yamal but he hasn’t really been head and shoulders above everybody else, no player has.

Remember in 2018 when Luca Modric broke the Messi and Ronaldo ballon D'or tie for the first time since 2008, fans were shocked to see him emerge as the winner, forgetting that the core determinant of winning this award rests on leadership, inspiration, intelligence and general team performance more than overall goals scored by a player. This year's Award suits Captain Rodri best more than Yamal, he exhibited team leadership and fought strongly to lift the cup with his national team, coupled with the Golden ball as the man of the tournament, and his numerous other achievements in Man city, Rodri is outstanding and deserving of this award.

[EluguHcman]

This year, I'm really torn between the options
I don't think any one player has a clear advantage over the others

Some newspapers are also including Vini Jr. and Messi, but I'm not sure if those two are really that big of favorites

If I had to take a guess right now, my best bet would be Harry Kane, based on his performance for both his club and national team

And perhaps with the few mentioned I think they preserves better advantages than the rests that are not in the list.
I am also not surprised if Messi's name was also included in this season because he has sometimes got the skills and efforts to win the award (Ballon D'or).

You talked about players performance in clubs and national leagues, I am sure Messi has the qualifications as much.
But lastly, I know that it is still impossible to predict who will be in the position as at now.

[Agbamoni]

~snip

But at the end of the day, the votes that determine the winners of this competition are always the votes from team members, coaches and sports journalists, which, for me, is flawed, especially if a player is painted badly in the ranks of social media because, whether we like it or not, it has a big factor in the process.

This year awards is one I'm looking out for because, personally the most deserving of the award in terms of individual brilliance and performance is Kylian Mbappe, but based on his lack of team trophies, I think he will have an issue there, even as they say the award is given through those criteria, most of the time it feels like it's not at all.

A Ballon d'Or winner is chosen by journalists, not by coaches, team members, or by the fans or FIFA themselves, though FIFA may influence the decision by choosing journalists who they think will make their respective pick that supports FIFA's choice.

The voting works this way. 100 Journalist from top countries in the world will pick their top 10 players from the 30 nominees. Points are used to differentiate their rank. Meaning the man at the top gets the highest points and vice versa.

[nelson4lov]

Personally, I'd like to see Kane win it because I don't think anyone else came close to him in offensive contributions, not even Michael Olise despite his record breaking assists. The only argument for Kane not winning it would be because he didn't win any of the major trophies (UCL and World cup) but to be fair, he did reach the semi final of both competitions so he came close to clinching. I'm going to be very surprised if anyone wins it other than him.

[Sandra_hakeem]

I'd stick to this ranking. It's because there are strong reasons behind it. Mbappe who got three golden boots in the same season has to be the number one consider D'or is a personal award. Yamal must be in the 2nd place consider he gets three trophies in the same season.
However, a bit disagree to put Kane at the top three because most of his goals were in the farmer league.  

Bundesliga is a farmer league?? Tell me you know nothing about football without telling me.

It’s difficult to say, there is no real stand out super star like there obviously was for many years with Ronaldo and Messi winning it.

I would probably say Yamal but he hasn’t really been head and shoulders above everybody else, no player has.

It's understandable if you'd choose Yamal, but since winning the world cup doesn't automatically guarantee a win, Kane with the highest individual performance takes it for me. That man has given everything in him for the game, but that has only ever brought him insults and blame, as if he controls the trophy committee.

[Synchronice]

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

Why will there be Cristiano? He didn't do much. He doesn't play in prestigious club (nor Messi too) and he didn't do much in the world cup and Portugal got eliminated quickly while Messi was the real reason of Argentina's success, plus, he beat multiple records (but Mbappe beat his goal record thanks to the match against England where none team was caring much about winning and number of goals in the net).

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.

That's completely true and in 2018, Luca Modric beat the 10 years record of Cristiano and Messi fighting for Ballon d'Or. Probably people didn't like that their favorite didn't win the Ballon d'Or but Luka Modric really deserved it that year and he is an amazing player. Honestly, I also wanted Ney to win Ballon d'Or at least once.

[Byebyebtc]

It's quite a hard one to decide who will be the balloon d'Or winner, what can be going on in those journalist minds. But if they all should be honest the deserving winner should be dembélé again, because I personally don't see who was better then him in his overall performance this season.

One thing I dislike is the way people hype someone about getting the balloon d'Or and at the end of the day it goes to some one else, it's far better to guess your winner and watch who will end up getting it.

[Franctoshi]

Kane deserves the Ballon d'Or because his contributions to both club and England are impressive. Kylan Mbappé is also on par with Kane, and even surpasses him in statistics. In La Liga, Mbappé is the top scorer with 25 goals, and he also top-scored with the French national team at the World Cup.

Between Yamal and Rodri, Rodri is the more deserving Ballon d'Or because during the World Cup, Rodri played a crucial role in the Spanish national team's success in winning the World Cup for the first time since 2010.
In my opinion, the two names that will top the vote count are Kylan Mbappé and Kane. Rodri will likely finish third.

If you look at all the player nominees and their different stats for the tournament award, it becomes so confusing to make a choice of player for this very season's award because of the World Cup competition that took place, where some of the players have the Champions League trophy and the other World Cup trophy in their possession, the other has the third place, whereas the other has the golden boot in their possession, so I don't really know what criteria they will be using this time to decide the award winner.

[Cantsay]

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.

If it happens that he wins the Ballon D'or then it would just solidify the whole accusation of Messi being treated more fairly than every other player in the World Cup.

This World Cup just made me dislike him so much. I used to like him, but after seeing all of his highlights, it became obvious that someone like that shouldn't be considered as one of the goats because of all the fouls that were being overlooked.

[AmoreJaz]

It's quite a hard one to decide who will be the balloon d'Or winner, what can be going on in those journalist minds. But if they all should be honest the deserving winner should be dembélé again, because I personally don't see who was better then him in his overall performance this season.

One thing I dislike is the way people hype someone about getting the balloon d'Or and at the end of the day it goes to some one else, it's far better to guess your winner and watch who will end up getting it.

This kind of event is hard to predict as it depends on the judges involved. Even if we say there are strong contenders, you don't know the criteria of the judges as they can be biased with their choices. This is why it is not advisable to bet on this. Well, that is my opinion on this kind of betting. Just enjoy watching the awards night. But if you want more thrill, you can really bet in some of the betting lines. But I would say, don't bet big.