⚽🏆 2027 Ballon D'or!!! 🏆⚽

[Supreme Donvic]

Mbappe obviously my favorite, but he has to win the trophy. It's so sad he had only 28 pts gap to Kane. If he was winning at least one trophy last season, he's winning the D'or not Kane. So he's likely still remain my top favorite, but winning trophy is a must.

However, anything can happen because we have no clue about which trophy that can be winning by Madrid. So far, their up and down performance is quite worrying me, but seeing them able to beat Barcelona.

It raises my optimism if they can win at least one trophy. Let's say if Mbappe can still farm as many golden boots as he can, then he win one or two prestigious trophy. D'or is him.

I think this is the most realistic approach to see him lift this award.

Mbappé would have actually won the ballon d'Or if he was able to win one trophy last season, the fact that he did not win any trophy was the reason why kane won the ballon d'Or.
Yes you are actually right if Real Madrid wins one trophy this season and mbappé is able to get the La Liga and the champions League highest goal scorer then he's going to win the ballon d'Or and nobody can stop him, I believe he can actually win the La Liga and the champions League highest goal scorer it's very easy for him to do, what will be difficult to achieve is Real Madrid lifting a trophy this season.
Real Madrid has been doing very well recently and I believe with the win against Barcelona they will be more determined to win all their matches.

[sergiorus]

Mbappe obviously my favorite, but he has to win the trophy. It's so sad he had only 28 pts gap to Kane. If he was winning at least one trophy last season, he's winning the D'or not Kane. So he's likely still remain my top favorite, but winning trophy is a must.

However, anything can happen because we have no clue about which trophy that can be winning by Madrid. So far, their up and down performance is quite worrying me, but seeing them able to beat Barcelona.

It raises my optimism if they can win at least one trophy. Let's say if Mbappe can still farm as many golden boots as he can, then he win one or two prestigious trophy. D'or is him.

I think this is the most realistic approach to see him lift this award.

People who voted for Messi are a disgrace to football and particularly this award.

Look how many points this is, if they voted for someone who was actually deserving instead , the results could be so much different.

In theory even Rodri or Kvaratskhelia could be the winners then. But of course they had to vote the FIFAs golden boy in, after all who wants to live solely on a salary of a journalist, right?

[Charcol]

Isn't it too early to discuss this? I couldn't vote in your poll because you didn't include Raphinha. You could've added other option. He's had the best start to the season and is currently the most in-form player. So right now he's also the strongest candidate for the award. If Barca reach the CL final and Raphinha finishes with more goals/assists than Yamal, it's almost certain he'll win it. Betting on him makes sense while the odds are so high.

This is a good suggestion, I have added the Other option.
As for Rafinha, even if he scores 200 goals, Barcelona will continue to promote Yamal (at least because some of the assists will be on him). Barcelona threw Rafinha into a hole even in the 24-25 season, when he was very good, in favor of Yamal and this will happen again. If Yamal gets injured, then the second choice will be Rodri, Rafinha has no chance of winning any PR award while he plays in Barcelona. Rafinha NO for me is literally like a bank deposit - low profitability but high reliability.

I don't understand why you made that comment. Is a player's campaign in the club or the media really the official selection criteria for the Ballon d'Or?
If his personal performance is good, if he contributes in important matches, then it wouldn't be surprising if he wins the award. Although it seems he won't. Since it's given by one journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking, you probably don't have any logical evidence to conclude that he has no chance of winning just because he plays for Barcelona. I'm not saying you're completely wrong, because Raphinha's chances of winning are very low. He played for the same club as Yamal, but their roles on the field and their contributions to the attack are not always the same. That's why it's difficult to judge their performance based solely on who is more popular.

[Ale88]

As for Rafinha, even if he scores 200 goals, Barcelona will continue to promote Yamal (at least because some of the assists will be on him). Barcelona threw Rafinha into a hole even in the 24-25 season, when he was very good, in favor of Yamal and this will happen again. If Yamal gets injured, then the second choice will be Rodri, Rafinha has no chance of winning any PR award while he plays in Barcelona. Rafinha NO for me is literally like a bank deposit - low profitability but high reliability.

But what do you mean by "Barcelona will continue to promote Yamal"? The winner(s) is chosen by journalists, and they are supposed to know quite a lot about football, so if Rafinha performs better than Yamal what could Barcelona do about it?

Of course Yamal is and will be Barcelona's face for the next 20 years (or at least that's the idea) since he comes from the cantera, he's Spanish, he's young, etc etc. Raphinha is "just" a foreign player arrived from Leeds who is almost 30 years old, we're not talking about a Messi situation. And I don't want to belittle what Raphinha has been doing because he's incredible at the moment.

[KTChampions]

This is a good suggestion, I have added the Other option.
As for Rafinha, even if he scores 200 goals, Barcelona will continue to promote Yamal (at least because some of the assists will be on him). Barcelona threw Rafinha into a hole even in the 24-25 season, when he was very good, in favor of Yamal and this will happen again. If Yamal gets injured, then the second choice will be Rodri, Rafinha has no chance of winning any PR award while he plays in Barcelona. Rafinha NO for me is literally like a bank deposit - low profitability but high reliability.

I don't understand why you made that comment. Is a player's campaign in the club or the media really the official selection criteria for the Ballon d'Or?
If his personal performance is good, if he contributes in important matches, then it wouldn't be surprising if he wins the award. Although it seems he won't. Since it's given by one journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking, you probably don't have any logical evidence to conclude that he has no chance of winning just because he plays for Barcelona. I'm not saying you're completely wrong, because Raphinha's chances of winning are very low. He played for the same club as Yamal, but their roles on the field and their contributions to the attack are not always the same. That's why it's difficult to judge their performance based solely on who is more popular.

Perhaps it’s worth keeping an eye on reality and reading the news, rather than just thinking about how "everything ought to be"? To win a PR-related award, it’s not enough to simply be good, you also need to secure PR support from clubs, national teams, influencers, and so on. If your own club ignores you (as was the case with Raphinha two years ago and last season), then you don’t stand a chance. Just look at what Rodri said about Yamal this season:

“Ballon d’Or? The club has chosen to back Lamine. They say he's the player most deserving of the award, and that's completely legitimate”.

https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/2099762138696851538

An interesting statement, wouldn't you say? Rodri received a ton of money from Barcelona towards the end of his career, and apparently support for the club's decisions in such matters is also included in the contract, but nevertheless, he couldn't resist and directly said that Barcelona chose Yamal 
I can understand him - he has his own ambitions and has already won an award, but now he’s being made to prop up the PR-driven figure of Yamal, haha.

But what do you mean by "Barcelona will continue to promote Yamal"? The winner(s) is chosen by journalists, and they are supposed to know quite a lot about football, so if Rafinha performs better than Yamal what could Barcelona do about it?
~

It means exactly what it says. If you haven’t been following this topic closely, take a look at what Rodri says - see the quote above.

[r_victory]

Honestly, I think it's too early to say. I didn't expect Harry Kane to win the 2026 award, not because he isn't a great player or doesn't deserve it, but I believed it would be Mbappé or even Yamal due to the high expectations surrounding them. Kane's selection was a surprise to me. I'll wait a little longer before making a prediction.

[tiCeR]

...

You’re putting in serious work to convince me bro and it’s almost working... hahah but not quite!!
Fair play though you make valid points in both posts. Revisiting it I’d maybe let Kane sneak into 3rd place over Lamine but he still stays behind Mbappe and Messi for me (yes I’m biased, I can't help it).
If we’re basing the award on this year's top goalscorers, international tournament goals have to carry the most weight. In both major tournaments, Kane ended up second best to the same leader. Scoring tons of goals in a domestic league where your team almost averages 4 goals a game just isn't the same, especially when most of the Bundesliga defense is pretty weak.
But hey that's just how I see it following my own standards and how I felt watching these players this year. I understand why you think he deserves it, you raised some important points about him and they are valid. I guess each person just perceives performance differently.

Haha You gotta do what you gotta do. But no, as I said before we both actually agree. I was just trying to find a justification that at least kind of negates the idea that Kane didn't deserve it at all. I like the tone of your response anyway though.

Mbappe and Messi for me (yes I’m biased, I can't help it)

Exactly the same here by the way. I have been voting, cheering, vouching, what not for Messi forever. I now took a minute to think about the sentence I wanted to write, but then it came to my mind that you have a point in a certain way, which is quite interesting. I was about to say that I understand how it's really really hard to vote for a player as a Ballon D'or winner who plays in the Saudi Pro League or MLS because they are just not as challenged as much over the course of a year. But here is where I think it gets interesting: if a player plays in one of those leagues, but out of nowhere plays a World Cup like Messi did against every and all expectations (everyone predicted nothing but shameful failure), it actually demonstrates the level this player has to be on inevitably, or otherwise a performance like that would be impossible.

Ronaldo disappeared in the dark despite players with a strong Portugal squad. A little bit off topic, but just for the sake of curiosity, I would like to see how Messi would do at age 43 at the next World Cup.

But now before KTChampions becomes angry, we rather get back on topic!

[Ale88]

It means exactly what it says. If you haven’t been following this topic closely, take a look at what Rodri says - see the quote above.

Ok, the club can make the players say whatever they want (I'm a little disappointed by this kind of declaration from Rodri to be honest), but unless they actually somehow interfere with the votes - and by that I mean corrupting some journalists - I don't see how this would change somebody's mind.

Let's hypothetically say that at the end of the season Raphinha scored 10 goals and 15 assists more than Yamal, and maybe the Brazilian even scored a goal that gave Barcelona a trophy, why would a third persona not related to the club prefer Yamal over him? This is what is not clear to me.

Anyway in situations like this I think the club should stay neutral because this is a clear lack of respect for Rodri and Raphinha, they are letting everybody know that Yamal is above everybody else. It's not a great idea in my opinion.

[KTChampions]

It means exactly what it says. If you haven’t been following this topic closely, take a look at what Rodri says - see the quote above.

Ok, the club can make the players say whatever they want (I'm a little disappointed by this kind of declaration from Rodri to be honest), but unless they actually somehow interfere with the votes - and by that I mean corrupting some journalists - I don't see how this would change somebody's mind.

In PR-driven awards, it’s only PR that wins - it’s strange that you even have any doubts about this. If a journalist sees Rodri saying that Yamal is the best, it inevitably influences their opinion, even if only subconsciously.

Let's hypothetically say that at the end of the season Raphinha scored 10 goals and 15 assists more than Yamal, and maybe the Brazilian even scored a goal that gave Barcelona a trophy, why would a third persona not related to the club prefer Yamal over him? This is what is not clear to me.

Why should we speculate about hypotheticals when we have the 24-25 season? 
Look: Yamal has 39 goals + assists, while Raphinha has 57. Moreover, in the Champions League, Lamine Yamal has 8, while Raphinha has 22-the highest figure in the tournament. Raphinha was also named the best player in La Liga.
But you’ve probably already guessed what happened, right? Barcelona threw Raphinha under the bus while hyping up Yamal-"but he’s only 17!" - and in the end, Yamal finished second for the Ballon d’Or, while Raphinha ended up all the way down in 5th.

Anyway in situations like this I think the club should stay neutral because this is a clear lack of respect for Rodri and Raphinha, they are letting everybody know that Yamal is above everybody else. It's not a great idea in my opinion.

Yes, Barcelona is a little-studied sect. I have no idea how they manage to handle all this trash. Let’s assume they managed to silence Rodri with money as he nears the end of his career, but I don’t understand how they deal with the ambitions of Raphinha and other players.

[nelson4lov]

Why should we speculate about hypotheticals when we have the 24-25 season? 
Look: Yamal has 39 goals + assists, while Raphinha has 57. Moreover, in the Champions League, Lamine Yamal has 8, while Raphinha has 22-the highest figure in the tournament. Raphinha was also named the best player in La Liga.
But you’ve probably already guessed what happened, right? Barcelona threw Raphinha under the bus while hyping up Yamal-"but he’s only 17!" - and in the end, Yamal finished second for the Ballon d’Or, while Raphinha ended up all the way down in 5th.

Tbh, I never understood why they pushed for Yamal in the 2024/2025 Ballon d'Or when Raphina was clearly the better choice of the two. It made no sense at the time And it still doesn't make sense now. Raphina finished 5th then for the same reason Olise 5th finished at 9th place in the just concluded Ballon d'Or.

What's even funnier if that Barcelona would push Yamal hard next here if there's a hint that he might win lol

[JoyMarsha]

Mbappe obviously my favorite, but he has to win the trophy. It's so sad he had only 28 pts gap to Kane. If he was winning at least one trophy last season, he's winning the D'or not Kane. So he's likely still remain my top favorite, but winning trophy is a must.

However, anything can happen because we have no clue about which trophy that can be winning by Madrid. So far, their up and down performance is quite worrying me, but seeing them able to beat Barcelona.

It raises my optimism if they can win at least one trophy. Let's say if Mbappe can still farm as many golden boots as he can, then he win one or two prestigious trophy. D'or is him.

I think this is the most realistic approach to see him lift this award.

People who voted for Messi are a disgrace to football and particularly this award.

Look how many points this is, if they voted for someone who was actually deserving instead , the results could be so much different.

In theory even Rodri or Kvaratskhelia could be the winners then. But of course they had to vote the FIFAs golden boy in, after all who wants to live solely on a salary of a journalist, right?

Unfortunately, only 100 journalists are allowed to vote for the Ballon d'Or. They aren't random journalists; they are journalists from the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries, one journalist per country.

The journalists who gave points to Messi have their reasons for that, since Messi is among the contestants who come up for the Ballon d'Or award. There is no way no points will be given to Messi as the GOAT in football.

Don't be mad anymore about what happened, since the Ballon d'Or award is not given to Messi