‎Who will win the 2026 Ballon D'or? 🏆⚽

[MainIbem]

Mbappe wants African journalists vote and he is trying to play smart . He is desperate because he never mentioned anything related to Africa but now that he needs a favor, that's when he remembered his root. He should know that we already have a ballon d'or winner before,so we don't care if he wins it as it does us no good. If he eventually wins it , his record will show Europe/France not Africa. I still don't understand why he feels he has a better chance in winning the ballon d'or. Everything he won last season was his personal achievement , nothing with his team. He was neither the best player in all the competitions he played in, no trophy or single medal. He should  just focus on the Gerard muller trophy. He has  a better chance in winning that one.

He's out of the picture in this particular Ballon d'Or cause the competition for the tittle is between Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane, those arexthe most exceptional players that truly deserve it, asides invidual record, they have trophies as backup for consideration by voters but Mbappe' only has individual record that's not very good compared to what those other players had last season. He'll be deceiving himself if he thinks African journalists would favour him cause of his roots, those journalists are not fools and would vote the better options that deserves winning it.

[MorganaX]

Mbappe wants African journalists vote and he is trying to play smart . He is desperate because he never mentioned anything related to Africa but now that he needs a favor, that's when he remembered his root. He should know that we already have a ballon d'or winner before,so we don't care if he wins it as it does us no good. If he eventually wins it , his record will show Europe/France not Africa. I still don't understand why he feels he has a better chance in winning the ballon d'or. Everything he won last season was his personal achievement , nothing with his team. He was neither the best player in all the competitions he played in, no trophy or single medal. He should  just focus on the Gerard muller trophy. He has  a better chance in winning that one.

He's out of the picture in this particular Ballon d'Or cause the competition for the tittle is between Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane, those arexthe most exceptional players that truly deserve it, asides invidual record, they have trophies as backup for consideration by voters but Mbappe' only has individual record that's not very good compared to what those other players had last season. He'll be deceiving himself if he thinks African journalists would favour him cause of his roots, those journalists are not fools and would vote the better options that deserves winning it.

I don't know why he is even pushing for it as much as he is doing, outright, he played and exceptional individual game but still, team achievement will deny him, as you said, it's left for Harry Kane and Yamal but still I don't like the fact that Yamal wants to win this thing because of the World Cup victory when he didn't co tribute as much as we would have wanted. I still think it's wack that Pau Cubarsi isn't getting moderate hype as he has been excellent.

I saw the list of nominees and The GOAT Messi was was there and what are the chance that he will win it ? Besides I won't be shocked because that World Cup run was superb, better than Harry Kane 2x

[Alpha Marine]

I think he should be amongst the top three contenders; Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise and Harry Kane, in that order the others can come in from fourth place. Olise deserves to be in the conversation for the winner, no doubt and not Kylian.

I don't expect Mbappe to be in the top 3. His goals are an advantage, but not winning any trophy while playing for Real Madrid and France is disappointing. If I were a Madrid fan, I would be offended by how he's been saying he had a good season. How can he say he had a good season when he gave the fans nothing?
During the group stage of the World Cup, France was the undisputed favourite to win the World Cup, so for them to now not even win bronze is disappointing. That has disqualified Mbappe from the top 3.

For Olise, I have already said he is a good player. I said I like him, but he did not have a better season than Yamal last season. To show how good Yamal is, you can see how people hold him to a different standard. He didn't have a bad World Cup, but because of what people expect of him, people say he was average.
Can you mention any big game last season that we can say "that was the Olise show?" whether his team won or not? We all know who we enjoyed more last season. Even when Barcelona failed to qualify against Atletico in the Champions league, we saw Yamal's perfomance in the second leg.
Lamine deserves the balon d'or more than any one else.

[nelson4lov]

I don't expect Mbappe to be in the top 3. His goals are an advantage, but not winning any trophy while playing for Real Madrid and France is disappointing. If I were a Madrid fan, I would be offended by how he's been saying he had a good season. How can he say he had a good season when he gave the fans nothing?
During the group stage of the World Cup, France was the undisputed favourite to win the World Cup, so for them to now not even win bronze is disappointing. That has disqualified Mbappe from the top 3.

For Olise, I have already said he is a good player. I said I like him, but he did not have a better season than Yamal last season. To show how good Yamal is, you can see how people hold him to a different standard. He didn't have a bad World Cup, but because of what people expect of him, people say he was average.
Can you mention any big game last season that we can say "that was the Olise show?" whether his team won or not? We all know who we enjoyed more last season. Even when Barcelona failed to qualify against Atletico in the Champions league, we saw Yamal's perfomance in the second leg.
Lamine deserves the balon d'or more than any one else.

You tried to discredit Mbappe and Olise just to prop up Yamal. It's a good thing you conveniently ignored Harry Kane from your list. Winning trophies is a team effort, which is why Yamal didn't win the UCL despite being on the Barcelona team. The only argument for Yamal was the fact that he was part of the Spain team that won the World Cup, contributing a whopping 1 goal and 0 assists.

If we are going to make that decision, we might as well give it to Fabián Ruiz since he won the UCL and the World Cup.

[sergiorus]

I don't yet quite understand what you meant with your post or maybe you misunderstood mine. All I said was that Kane is where he is purely because he's been scoring too many goals for too long, not due to PR since as I also mentioned, he barely had any.

In terms of PR La Liga media dominate and have been dominating for many years. English Premier League media are also very impactful but that doesn't expand to the English players overseas. Bundesliga media are not very impactful and don't favour foreigners too, let alone the English.

Kane is an example of a person who never was talked about until he became way too good to ignore. And mind you, that happened when he was already in a very mature age. Needless to say there are players who have been pushed in all kinds of MSM since when they were underage, without really deserving that too.

Ah, got it. We are on the same page then. Perhaps I didn't fully grasp subtle nuance of what you said first time. By citing example of odds movement, I actually wanted to point out that even without massive media hype surrounding any player, on-field performance still influence market and fans perception. Another point I want to make is that discussion surrounding Kane is not limited merely to narrative of how many goal he has scored. He became top scorer in his first three Bundesliga season in a row, Idk if there has ever been such a start in Bundesliga history! European Golden Shoe, DFB-Pokal, he has performed exceptionally well in every section. So, in his case there are both individual output and team achievement.

Yea, sounds about right.

One good example of insane PR is Marcus Rashford - English, Man United player, had been pushed down everyone's throats as the next George Best or at least the next Rooney since he was a teenager. The dude is turning 30 next year, never became even half of a player Harry Kane is.

Of course English MSM aren't as influential as Spanish, so outside of England probably he still wasn't as popular, but in England everyone was really sick of him being pushed everywhere yet not showing anything for it.

[Byebyebtc]

According to Fabrizio Romano the Ballon d'or voting has ended, now we wait till October to know the winner.  Then I came across an account on X, this guy has successfully predicted or confirmed the last 3 Ballon d'or Winner. Maybe he's an insider . Now he confirmed that Lamine Yamal is the winner of Ballon d'or.

Lamin Yamal winning the ballon d'Or predictions are becoming a lot, and honestly I would really love to know why individuals choose him over Harry Kane or Messi.
All these prediction charts are so sentimental so I would not even consider that something too look into that's why I cut it out, But I honestly didn't see lamin Yamal perform well in the world cup, even dembélé did better, so compared with other contenders I don't feel lamin would have even been nominated.

[IceLincoln]

Mbappe wants African journalists vote and he is trying to play smart . He is desperate because he never mentioned anything related to Africa but now that he needs a favor, that's when he remembered his root. He should know that we already have a ballon d'or winner before,so we don't care if he wins it as it does us no good. If he eventually wins it , his record will show Europe/France not Africa. I still don't understand why he feels he has a better chance in winning the ballon d'or. Everything he won last season was his personal achievement , nothing with his team. He was neither the best player in all the competitions he played in, no trophy or single medal. He should  just focus on the Gerard muller trophy. He has  a better chance in winning that one.

He's out of the picture in this particular Ballon d'Or cause the competition for the tittle is between Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane, those arexthe most exceptional players that truly deserve it, asides invidual record, they have trophies as backup for consideration by voters but Mbappe' only has individual record that's not very good compared to what those other players had last season. He'll be deceiving himself if he thinks African journalists would favour him cause of his roots, those journalists are not fools and would vote the better options that deserves winning it.

Mbappe is just being so desperate, it’s appalling for a player of his class. They say pride goes before a fall and he’s a living example. As it stands for all his talents and skills, Ousmane Dembele his fellow countryman will go down in history as a better player than him.
He’s a fantastic goal scorer, a great player but he has to find a way to carry his teammates along and not just be the center of the attention at all times.
He’ll have to do better next time to fight for the Ballon D’or… already Lamine Yamal, Olise and Raphinha are already making a stand for the next Ballon D’or.

[Alpha Marine]

You tried to discredit Mbappe and Olise just to prop up Yamal. It's a good thing you conveniently ignored Harry Kane from your list. Winning trophies is a team effort, which is why Yamal didn't win the UCL despite being on the Barcelona team. The only argument for Yamal was the fact that he was part of the Spain team that won the World Cup, contributing a whopping 1 goal and 0 assists.

If we are going to make that decision, we might as well give it to Fabián Ruiz since he won the UCL and the World Cup.

Lmao. So if a winger scores 1 goal in a tournament, it means he was ass? Funny people.
Was Fabian Ruiz the best player for his club? Was he among the top five most important players for his club? What about for his country? Was he among the top five most important players for Spain? You people will do everything just to discredit Yamal. For you guys, anybody can win the balon d'or except Yamal. You people had the same attitude with Messi. You guys support Kante, Jorginho, Van Dijk, and Haaland over Messi.

Your individual performance should help your team win things to be considered the best.
Mbappe played for the best international team going into the tournament. It's not like he plays for Turkey or something. He plays for France, so not winning a bronze medal with that France team is grounds to say he does not have a chance. Then when you look at his club side, he plays for freaking Real Madrid, the biggest football club in the world. The team with the most trophies in Europe, yet he didn't win a single trophy. Even you can't look at that and say "alright give him teh balon dor" in a world cup year.
How would you feel as a Madrid fan if this players comes to present this individual award to you when the team has won nothing in two years?
Kane, Olise and Yamal all have a way bigger chance than Mbappe. He shouldn't be on the list.
He didn't even have a better season than Haaland.

[meser#]

Mbappe wants African journalists vote and he is trying to play smart . He is desperate because he never mentioned anything related to Africa but now that he needs a favor, that's when he remembered his root. He should know that we already have a ballon d'or winner before,so we don't care if he wins it as it does us no good. If he eventually wins it , his record will show Europe/France not Africa. I still don't understand why he feels he has a better chance in winning the ballon d'or. Everything he won last season was his personal achievement , nothing with his team. He was neither the best player in all the competitions he played in, no trophy or single medal. He should  just focus on the Gerard muller trophy. He has  a better chance in winning that one.

He's out of the picture in this particular Ballon d'Or cause the competition for the tittle is between Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane, those arexthe most exceptional players that truly deserve it, asides invidual record, they have trophies as backup for consideration by voters but Mbappe' only has individual record that's not very good compared to what those other players had last season. He'll be deceiving himself if he thinks African journalists would favour him cause of his roots, those journalists are not fools and would vote the better options that deserves winning it.

It would be comical for him to try to curry favor with African journalists for the sake of the Ballon d'Or.
I haven't heard him make a single statement regarding Africa so far.
If such a thing were to happen—and assuming African journalists have any sense—they wouldn't vote for Mbappé in light of this.
The fact that Yamal and Kane are competing against each other is also laughable. Yamal might win this award in the future, but Kane certainly deserves it this year.

[Oshio-man]

Looking at the squads towards the Ballon Dor 2026, I think this Paris saint Germain forward player Sulemane have what it take to win this Ballon Dor this year because he has displayed well in so many competition that made Paris saint Germain to win many titles that made their players more popular in the UEFA champion league and other league, which is the reason I said this Paris saint Germain forward player listed on the Ballon Dor will come out as a winner.

[sotelorene]

Lamin Yamal winning the ballon d'Or predictions are becoming a lot, and honestly I would really love to know why individuals choose him over Harry Kane or Messi.
All these prediction charts are so sentimental so I would not even consider that something too look into that's why I cut it out, But I honestly didn't see lamin Yamal perform well in the world cup, even dembélé did better, so compared with other contenders I don't feel lamin would have even been nominated.

I believe everyone has their own bias and sentiment which sometimes it is very difficult for them to forgo their own bias because of other's..., Lamine Yamal may not perform exceptionally well in the world cup but I believe there are other statistics that you have not seen about him in few seasons now and then couple with the fact that he was among the world cup winners so that is already a lot I mean it is more than enough to be nominated as a contender. Perhaps we should not argue much because I am sure FIFA knew the winner before now.

[Abu-Naim]

Looking at the squads towards the Ballon Dor 2026, I think this Paris saint Germain forward player Sulemane have what it take to win this Ballon Dor this year because he has displayed well in so many competition that made Paris saint Germain to win many titles that made their players more popular in the UEFA champion league and other league, which is the reason I said this Paris saint Germain forward player listed on the Ballon Dor will come out as a winner.

Did you mean Dembele? If yes, then he actually did well in both the World Cup and the Champions league they won back to back; he also did well because he is the player with more trophies amount the top three nominated players I think, he actually deserves the award because he won it the last time; the only reason for further debate was because his team France was eliminated in the semifinals of the World Cup, if they had won the World Cup title, there will be no further debate, he should win the award but as its stands now, so many factors need to be considered.

Lamine Yamal is a strong contender, Mbappe is also a strong contender while others are also bringing Harry Kane, they finished third in the World Cup, he won the Bundesliga and also got eliminated in the semifinals of the Champions League, he scored a lot of goals as well across all competitions, so he also deserve the award. But the voters will determine the winner which they knows the criteria to use to vote players.

[KTChampions]

I believe everyone has their own bias and sentiment which sometimes it is very difficult for them to forgo their own bias because of other's..., Lamine Yamal may not perform exceptionally well in the world cup but I believe there are other statistics that you have not seen about him in few seasons now and then couple with the fact that he was among the world cup winners so that is already a lot I mean it is more than enough to be nominated as a contender. Perhaps we should not argue much because I am sure FIFA knew the winner before now.

Oh, come on. Have you forgotten that the Ballon d'Or is awarded for a season, not for career achievements (at least, that's the idea)? The fact is that in the two biggest tournaments of the last season (the World Cup and the Champions League), Yamal was by no means individually superior to the other main contenders. Kane, Mbappé, and Olise hold goal-scoring and assist records, whereas Yamal had none of that. No one disputes that his level of play is impressive, but (theoretically) to win the award, you have to be better than the rest - and Yamal simply doesn't fit the bill there, his ceiling is the top four.

[Y3shot]

Lamine Yamal is a strong contender, Mbappe is also a strong contender while others are also bringing Harry Kane, they finished third in the World Cup, he won the Bundesliga and also got eliminated in the semifinals of the Champions League, he scored a lot of goals as well across all competitions, so he also deserve the award. But the voters will determine the winner which they knows the criteria to use to vote players.

Lamine Yamal seems to be the most favorite here because of what he has achieved as a young player. He won La Liga for Barcelona, and Spain won the World Cup. Looking at the number of goals he scored in Barcelona and the World Cup makes him a better contender for winning the Ballon d'Or. Achieving this at his age is not easy; at least this will encourage young players. In the World Cup game, he is the most talked-about player, and I know the possibility of him winning is high.

[Hyphen(-)]

Oh, come on. Have you forgotten that the Ballon d'Or is awarded for a season, not for career achievements (at least, that's the idea)? The fact is that in the two biggest tournaments of the last season (the World Cup and the Champions League), Yamal was by no means individually superior to the other main contenders. Kane, Mbappé, and Olise hold goal-scoring and assist records, whereas Yamal had none of that. No one disputes that his level of play is impressive, but (theoretically) to win the award, you have to be better than the rest - and Yamal simply doesn't fit the bill there, his ceiling is the top four.

Exactly, if the award is based on individual performance in the last two major competitions played last season which are the Champions League and the FIFA World Cup, Yamal cannot be the clear favorite just because he won the FIFA World Cup with Spain, his performance was actually good, but other players in the list did more than him in the Champions League and also in the FIFA World Cup.

Yamal scored just one goal in the FIFA World Cup, that doesn’t disqualify him, but I am pointing it outside people who feel like he is the best option for the award, and both Mbappe, Olise, Kane, and Dembele have more goals than Yamal in the FIFA World Cup, but him winning the FIFA World Cup is the reason why people see him as the top candidate.
I think there is still time for Yamal to win the award, he has started this season so well, he can start building his chances to win the next award.

[Ryu_Ar1]

I believe everyone has their own bias and sentiment which sometimes it is very difficult for them to forgo their own bias because of other's..., Lamine Yamal may not perform exceptionally well in the world cup but I believe there are other statistics that you have not seen about him in few seasons now and then couple with the fact that he was among the world cup winners so that is already a lot I mean it is more than enough to be nominated as a contender. Perhaps we should not argue much because I am sure FIFA knew the winner before now.

It should be realized that the Ballon d'or is measured by annual performance not career records owned so that for the past few seasons it will not be counted because the benchmark we will remain in the last 1 season that has happened.
On the other hand I will not deny that he has contributed in the World Cup and in club competitions but when it comes to individuals it should be debatable because the performance of some other players is still quite good at club level even though Lamine's advantage at the moment is a World Cup trophy but when it comes to individuals there are still those who can rival him and that is debatable.

So for now I think we just have to see how the journalists who act as voters judge let alone we have a few more weeks to see who is worthy of the ballon d'or this season.  Lamine has potential but some other players like Kane also need to be taken into account here.

[Rhow]

According from the latest odds yamal is sitting at the top to win Ballon d'or with 51%, and i think how big the gap is literally telling us he is winner. This reminds me with Rodri's story when he was winning D'or when he flipped Vini's 70% odds to win D'or in matter hours.
This is similar story to the Yamal's odds when he's flipping Kane's odds during the final day of the votes.

It seems the right time to put some money on Yamal consider the odds is still giving us 1.97. So is there still anyone who believe Kane is winning this Ballon D'or?
I think old man will go back home with no D'or on his hand.

Incidentally, the voting results are supposed to remain unknown to the general public until their official announcement, so why was there such a sharp shift in the odds on the final day of voting? If the outcome matches these odds, it would imply a leak occurred.

This may seem suspicious to many. Especially near the end of the voting, the odds changed so much that it seems like inside information has come to the market. I don't know if the odds changed so quickly because many people were betting on the same player. Again, I can't be sure if this is happening due to rumors, social media hype and bookmark risk management. But anyway, Harry Kane's claim seems pretty strong to me. Especially for Bayern, his goal tally, Bundesliga Golden Boot, European Golden Shoe and World Cup performance have all been outstanding this season.

[danadc]

Yamal scored just one goal in the FIFA World Cup, that doesn’t disqualify him, but I am pointing it outside people who feel like he is the best option for the award, and both Mbappe, Olise, Kane, and Dembele have more goals than Yamal in the FIFA World Cup, but him winning the FIFA World Cup is the reason why people see him as the top candidate.
I think there is still time for Yamal to win the award, he has started this season so well, he can start building his chances to win the next award.

My thinking is very simple: the World Cup is the biggest event in global football—it’s what brings the whole world together to watch the sport. Therefore, the player who scores the most goals there is the one who most deserves the award, simply because that is what viewers remember most. Some people don't follow European club leagues; they only watch global football events like the World Cup, the Euros, and the Nations League, and the players who stand out in those competitions are the ones who really shine. That’s why I say Mbappé should be the winner. But now Lamine is scoring more goals in the Nations League—though I suppose that shouldn't count anymore, right?

[IceLincoln]

Lamin Yamal winning the ballon d'Or predictions are becoming a lot, and honestly I would really love to know why individuals choose him over Harry Kane or Messi.
All these prediction charts are so sentimental so I would not even consider that something too look into that's why I cut it out, But I honestly didn't see lamin Yamal perform well in the world cup, even dembélé did better, so compared with other contenders I don't feel lamin would have even been nominated.

I believe everyone has their own bias and sentiment which sometimes it is very difficult for them to forgo their own bias because of other's..., Lamine Yamal may not perform exceptionally well in the world cup but I believe there are other statistics that you have not seen about him in few seasons now and then couple with the fact that he was among the world cup winners so that is already a lot I mean it is more than enough to be nominated as a contender. Perhaps we should not argue much because I am sure FIFA knew the winner before now.

Yes, it’s true everybody have their bias and sentiment when it comes to the Ballon d’Or but concerning the World Cup no player performed exceptionally in the Spanish team, everybody played their part to achieve the collective victory. Lamine was part of that crazy team, Rodri for me wasn’t the best player of that World Cup but that’s a story for another day.
Amongst all the names for this year’s Ballon D’or, the most outstanding player is Lamine Yamal. Though it’s a close contention between him, Kane and Olise. Even Oussmane Dembele should be in that conversation but he’s not.

[Hyphen(-)]

Yamal scored just one goal in the FIFA World Cup, that doesn’t disqualify him, but I am pointing it outside people who feel like he is the best option for the award, and both Mbappe, Olise, Kane, and Dembele have more goals than Yamal in the FIFA World Cup, but him winning the FIFA World Cup is the reason why people see him as the top candidate.
I think there is still time for Yamal to win the award, he has started this season so well, he can start building his chances to win the next award.

My thinking is very simple: the World Cup is the biggest event in global football—it’s what brings the whole world together to watch the sport. Therefore, the player who scores the most goals there is the one who most deserves the award, simply because that is what viewers remember most. Some people don't follow European club leagues; they only watch global football events like the World Cup, the Euros, and the Nations League, and the players who stand out in those competitions are the ones who really shine. That’s why I say Mbappé should be the winner. But now Lamine is scoring more goals in the Nations League—though I suppose that shouldn't count anymore, right?

If you are talking based on only the FIFA World cup since it is the biggest tournament this time, then the player that scored the highest goal is Mbappe, he scored 10 goals in the World Cup and also scored 15 goals in the Champions League last season, that means he deserves the award as well because he scored more goals that almost all the contestants, the only reason why some people are not counting on him is because they didn’t go far in the champions league, and France couldn’t make it to the finals of the World Cup this time.
Anything can happen, we can’t decide for the voters, they knows who to vote based on their instinct, only the result will settle this debate of who to win this award.