The debate surrounding the Ballon d’Or 2026 is just noise. There is only one player who truly deserves the trophy.
Every September, the football world pretends the credibility of major football awards is intact, despite complaining about the process all year long. We shift from last year’s consensus pick to a new cycle of arguments. This level of football analysis often ignores the objective reality of the season, but the path to this year’s winner is actually quite simple.
I’ve broken down the top 10 candidates to show exactly why the race isn’t as crowded as the media suggests. By looking at the actual player rankings, the gap between the pretenders and the best football player in the world becomes undeniable.
Do you agree with my pick for the winner, or is there someone else who deserves the crown? Tell me below.
0:00 The Intro
0:33 The Argument
1:15 It’s Actually Simple
3:03 Revealing the Top 10 Rankings
3:21 #9
3:36 #8
3:52 #7
4:03 #6
4:33 #5
4:47 #4
5:06 #3
5:25 #2
source
1. Harry Kane
2. Lamine Yamal
3. Kylian Mbappé
4. Michael Olise
5. Ousmane Dembélé
6. Lionel Messi
7. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
8. Erling Haaland
9. Fabián Ruiz
10. Pau Cubarsí
Hot take :olise deserves more than kane
Mbappe lost the World Cup because France is Ryan Garcia to Spain's Tank Davis.
Kane? If you're British and only look at out of context numbers lol but whatever.
I really don't think Mbappe deserves to be at the top 10. The only meaningful goals he scored were at the world cup. The reason why he scored so many with Madrid is because he was getting like a 75% of the team's chances handed to him in silver plate, but he played so badly he could only deliver against weak opponents. Useless player when it came to great matches. Only seemed good in France because Olise was doing some crazy black magic to enable him
Mbappe can not be 5th no way no way
I feel like Mbappe is rated too highly for this. Top scorer in La Liga? Yes. Best player in La Liga? Not by a long shot. Top scorer in the UCL? Yes. Best player? Not even close. Top scorer in the world cup? Yes. Best player? Easily no.
Yamal, I know doesn't have numbers for the world cup or crazy numbers anywhere. But he really was impactful for Barcelona's domestic success and Spain's dominance in the World Cup. For those who watch the games, you saw the attacks being moved on the opposite end from Yamal's side. Yet he still pressured every back line because in what world would you let Yamal play a 1v1 against any fullback. It's always a 2v1 minimum. He takes two people out of the defense out wide without the ball. It's crazy people are so dismissive of a 19 year old because of numbers because they don't watch the way this kid moves and forces teams to plan for him playing specifically.
Kane, an easy shout to win. But people aren't giving him enough of a chance. Plus, he's still growing. This isn't even his prime years yet. In 5-6 years time, we'll see him playing the most beautiful game in the world.
to me, Messi still the best football player in the planet. Whether he still could compete against any big team or play in any big team, I don't think he want to. Now, the question is what the Ballon d'Or criteria is. The most goals? the most assists? the most influencial? who determine which league is more valuable than another one? etc etc
The BdO belongs to Messi until he retires. Discussion ended
This is an opinion honestly but I think Olise should win it. If you want to go off the most prolific player that’s fine but if your going off that then Raphinha should have won it in 24/25, and I think there’s more to football than numbers. I don’t think Yamal deserves it quite, I do think he showed up in a way during the World Cup and he did contribute to most their goals in some way but it is a stretch when every other star was dropping incredible performances. Purely on the eye test Yamal would deserve it, but Olise was the best of both worlds. He was incredibly entertaining to watch while also putting up 50 g/a for Bayern and breaking the assist record at the World Cup. You could argue he didn’t show up against Spain but then again Kane didn’t show up against Argentina. He scored incredible goals in each knockout round of the UCL.
Yes, all what you said is true.
but one more thing to consider is where you see magic ?
carrying a team at 39 years old to almost win the world cup with bunch of MAGIC in those games its just crazy…
yes its MLS but the amazing things he doing for miami its another +
kvicha kvaratskhelia😢
,ate no one touches fabien ruiz,1.48xg pass rate!
olise broke messi assist record
Harry Kane deserves it, but Messi is still the best player alive, so it always makes sense for him to win it. It’s not Lamine’s time just yet.
By the way, Olise has beat the assist record, and Messi G/A is inflated cause 2 people have assists in the MLS
Messi outperformed Kane all year long in every way including the world cup. Better G/A per 90 as the only star player on both his club and national team. Only 4 less total G/A in 15 less matches and without someone as good as Olise drawing players away from him and setting him up. If you swapped Messi and Kane, Messi and Olise would be the only 2 Ballon D'or candidates because they would have lit the scoring records on fire. 2 players that have both that level of scoring ability who also know how to pass the ball to others. It would make Yamal and Rafinha look like the B team.
I realize the hypothetical switch isn't valid evidence, but the fact that Kane was outperformed by Messi with the help of someone of Olise's top tier quality is in itself enough to show who the true MVP and best player in football was this year. Imagine what Messi's stat line looks like if he plays 15 more games and makes it even.
Kane obviously
Kvara
If Messi shows up in the ceremony with his family its done bro.🥀🥀
Yasmine Lamal is overrated af. Can't understand the hype around this transgender teenager.
Mbambe will never get the ballon d'or because his team will never win the Champions league, because he's the most selfish player i've ever seen who never cares to press when off the ball. Useless player.
Fabian should be higher
Mbappe is far above dembele this season and it's not even close
Yamal and Messi shouldn't even be in the conversations
Olise deserves it over kane
Haaland scored 51 goals across all comps last year, carried Norway (along side Odegaard) to the quarter finals and won 2 trophies. Tf more does a player need to do to be minimum top 10? Utter bollocks.
Messi
Yamal shouldnt be top 5
As a Barça fan (not sure if that matters), this has been one of the only videos on the ballon d'or I agree 100% with
Mientras que Leo siga jugando va a seguir siendo el mejor jugador del mundo
MESSI OLISE HAALAND KANE one of them won that 🦚
For me – personally, i want Messi to win HE has phenomenal stats whole year . He is Goat 🐾
This would be my personal list:
1. Kane
2. Olise
3. Dembélé
4. Haaland
5. Mbappé
6. Yamal
7. Kvaratskhelia
8. Messi
9. Fabián Ruiz
10. Cubarsí
Tried to be as accurate and balanced as possiblem depending on preference I think you could swap Mbappé and yamal for example, but i think thid id what the top 10 should look like
Bundesliga tax… where was kane when it mattered the most vs psg in the ucl and vs argentina in the wc… in a wc year, the wc matters the most. R9 won it in 02 only cz of his wc performances (played less than 20 league matches), modric won in 2018 mainly bcz of his wc performances… the goat should win it his 9th time.
most dribbles, 2nd most g/a, most chances created, most key passes and believe it or not, most deuls won in the wc.
Agreed. Kane deserves it
olise is valid though
bro just left haaland when he was outscoring almost everyone
my man RODRI again!
Messi should be in top 3 at least. He single handedly take argentina to the final with one of the best world cup performances ever. Also he was a beast in the rest of the season(not as worth for doing it in the MLS but it's still crazy what he did).
I think that if a no one outside of the 5 big leagues would had done what messi did last season, he would had won the ballon d'ore.