‎Who will win the 2026 Ballon D'or?

[TedMosby]

There is a big difference between the predictions of people here and the predictions of people on Polymarket. People here are slightly favoring Lamine Yamal over Harry Kane. Meanwhile, most people on Polymarket seem to be definitely favoring Harry Kane.





Apart from this preliminary prediction, TBH, I don't have any prediction about the Ballon d'Or this year. I find this year's Ballon d'Or interesting because, for the first time since the Messi Cristiano era, we seem to have candidates with a tight gap in achievements. It reminds me of the era when we had Ronaldo, Figo, Rivaldo, and other legendary names fighting equally. There are no significant figures like Messi and Cristiano dominating it.

Also, I am a bit curious about how this could be a subject of manipulation or insider betting by the voters or the committee, who might also take the opportunity to make money from the prediction market.

[EarnOnVictor]

My bet is on Lamine Yamal because he is the only guy who has won trophies. With his international team he won the World Cup and with his club team FCB he won La Liga. He is the only player who is showing great performances for both his club team and his international team. And if we look at the other players no one has achieved anything compared to him.And i also think so guys he is currently the best winger of the world Thats why guys I think Lamine is the most deserving one for this Ballon d'Or.

Your post makes sense, at least you have a constructive reasons, but it's going to be deeper than that, winning a trophy doesn't automatically qualify Lamine Yamal for it, but a personal recognition with awards does, and Kane's not without that too. Spain's popularity for winning the world cup is part of the loud location Yamal has. But I believe this Ballon d'Or will be thoroughly weighed aside from sentiments, and truly, as it is today, Harry Kane is leading from many fronts. I believe he would win it.

[Italian Panic]

Your post makes sense, at least you have a constructive reasons, but it's going to be deeper than that, winning a trophy doesn't automatically qualify Lamine Yamal for it, but a personal recognition with awards does, and Kane's not without that too. Spain's popularity for winning the world cup is part of the loud location Yamal has. But I believe this Ballon d'Or will be thoroughly weighed aside from sentiments, and truly, as it is today, Harry Kane is leading from many fronts. I believe he would win it.

Although I agree with you that Harry Kane is undoubtedly an excellent player and deserves to win the Ballon d’Or because he is such a complete and all-round player, I also believe that Kvaratskhelia deserves it because, as well as being a devastating player, he has made a real difference whenever he has played and possesses the qualities needed to win. The Ballon d’Or does not necessarily have to be an award for winning something, but rather for quality that stands out from the rest.

[sergiorus]

Rodri won the World Cup, but was his performance last year enough to merit the Ballon d'Or? I don't think so.

Because he is not a goal scorer? What does ''his performance'' even mean? He became was named the best player of the World Cup, that alone was enough to give Ballon d'Or to Messi in 2023 despite awful performance in PSG (and you can actually measure it since he is an attacking player, unlike Rodri).

Imho in the year of World Cup, you cannot give Ballon d'Or to someone who hasn't played in neither the UCL final match nor in the World Cup final match.

[Mr_Brilliant$]

My bet is on Lamine Yamal because he is the only guy who has won trophies. With his international team he won the World Cup and with his club team FCB he won La Liga. He is the only player who is showing great performances for both his club team and his international team. And if we look at the other players no one has achieved anything compared to him.And i also think so guys he is currently the best winger of the world Thats why guys I think Lamine is the most deserving one for this Ballon d'Or.

Your post makes sense, at least you have a constructive reasons, but it's going to be deeper than that, winning a trophy doesn't automatically qualify Lamine Yamal for it, but a personal recognition with awards does, and Kane's not without that too. Spain's popularity for winning the world cup is part of the loud location Yamal has. But I believe this Ballon d'Or will be thoroughly weighed aside from sentiments, and truly, as it is today, Harry Kane is leading from many fronts. I believe he would win it.

Yeah winning a trophy doesn’t automatically makes Lamine qualify, put as you did mention you love his constructive reasons, and those reasons are why he is and I myself is anticipating Lamine as the most deserving one for the Ballon d’Or..
Lamine has been playing and performing great, so there’s high chance that he will win 2026 Ballon d’Or, just my opinion though..

[348Judah]

My bet is on Lamine Yamal because he is the only guy who has won trophies. With his international team he won the World Cup and with his club team FCB he won La Liga. He is the only player who is showing great performances for both his club team and his international team. And if we look at the other players no one has achieved anything compared to him.And i also think so guys he is currently the best winger of the world Thats why guys I think Lamine is the most deserving one for this Ballon d'Or.

Your post makes sense, at least you have a constructive reasons, but it's going to be deeper than that, winning a trophy doesn't automatically qualify Lamine Yamal for it, but a personal recognition with awards does, and Kane's not without that too. Spain's popularity for winning the world cup is part of the loud location Yamal has. But I believe this Ballon d'Or will be thoroughly weighed aside from sentiments, and truly, as it is today, Harry Kane is leading from many fronts. I believe he would win it.

Harry Kane may deserve taking this title all because of the world Cup role he played, which make him more recognized for this award and that is why some will definitely consider a player from the winning country for the world Cup, but living this aside are using other factors to determine for the winner, Harry Kane may not be the best nominee for such when we have other players to complete against him through their achievements.

[Coyster]

I voted Ousmane Dembele, not because i think he deserves it, but i don't think there is any better candidate. Rodri would have been the best candidate, but he was injured nearly all season for Manchester City, he had a great world cup, he was the best player in the tournament, but he was absent for City through injury.

Dembele won the Champions League and France made it to the Semi-Final of the World Cup, with Dembele scoring a couple of goals along the way, so i think he would win it.

[Baki202]

Yeah winning a trophy doesn’t automatically makes Lamine qualify, put as you did mention you love his constructive reasons, and those reasons are why he is and I myself is anticipating Lamine as the most deserving one for the Ballon d’Or..
Lamine has been playing and performing great, so there’s high chance that he will win 2026 Ballon d’Or, just my opinion though..

I was expecting Yamal to, but I'm not sure because there are a lot of players who are likely to win the balloon d,or, which is why I don't think so. In fact, a lot of players actually deserve the balloon d,or because they performed really well, so we don't know who will win because I don't know how they want to make justice to who will win because even we are unsure.  And I love it the way it because everyone is confused about who is going to win the balloon d,or let's hope that things go according to what we want because we don't expect things to go the way we want.

[AmaGold70]

The balloon D or is an award that is given based on a player's outstanding performance, more especially among the the top clubs or top teams, and some of these players mentioned here has performed very astonishingly, but I feel consideration might also be given to these players players who also did well in the world cup tournament, and if that is the case, players like Lami Yamal, Harry Kane, and Karyn Mbappe are on the top list, and player like Messi should also be inclusive as Argentina was able to make it to the  final stage. However, I would say the major context will likely be between Yamal, and Harry Kane, Yamal lifted the FIFA world cup at a very young age age with his outstanding performance, Harry Kane on the other hand also performed very well in the FIFA world cup even though he did not get to the final  stage but outstanding record in his own team too.

[yixichloro2xx]

I voted Ousmane Dembele, not because i think he deserves it, but i don't think there is any better candidate. Rodri would have been the best candidate, but he was injured nearly all season for Manchester City, he had a great world cup, he was the best player in the tournament, but he was absent for City through injury.

Dembele won the Champions League and France made it to the Semi-Final of the World Cup, with Dembele scoring a couple of goals along the way, so i think he would win it.

The Yamal also won the FIFA world cup and La liga, coming out as the best player of the season and one of the highest goal contributor last season. If we check Dembele run in Ligue Last season he didn't even start all in most of the matches. Even during the beginning of the season, Dembele was no where to be found, it was until the second half of the season that Dembele started to improve in terms of his performance in both competitions. Yamal la liga run was far better than Dembele, he was the one representing and carrying the club when his teammates were injured e. G Rahphina,. So that boy has down wonderful, even though he didn't score well in this world cup. But his presence was felt. To me if not Lamine Yamal, then Harry kane should win it.

[letteredhub]

I voted Ousmane Dembele, not because i think he deserves it, but i don't think there is any better candidate. Rodri would have been the best candidate, but he was injured nearly all season for Manchester City, he had a great world cup, he was the best player in the tournament, but he was absent for City through injury.

Dembele won the Champions League and France made it to the Semi-Final of the World Cup, with Dembele scoring a couple of goals along the way, so i think he would win it.

People are just mincing things up and forgetting things so fast that because it's a World Cup period that was just concluded and the experiences of the event no one is now talking about the exceptional contributions made by players like Dembele for their club in the UCL, meanwhile the UCL is part of what is judged with in checking players personal achievements and performance in a season in deciding who wins the ballon dior and not just World Cup  alone.

[jeremypwr]

I voted for harry Kane and he is the betting favorite to win it
Here are the voting odds from this poll

Harry kane    - 4 (28.6%)
Lamine Yamal    - 5 (35.7%)

Yamal could win but doubt he does

Why would Yamal win? What were his contributions and achievements for last season? I know he played well but it's no way close to what Harry Kane did. It would be extremely shocking if he wins it over Harry Kane. But then again, nobody knows who would win and the winner won't surprise me anymore because I've seen far more shocking winners in the last couple of years.

Harry Kane wins it or football is rigged.

I also think that Kane will end up winning it
He is the very big betting favorite to win it and something will be shady if he somehow loses it to Yamal