The most well-respected personal award in football is an achievement all players dream to get their hands on throughout their career. A night of glitz and glamour enchants the footballing world, bringing the best of the best under one roof to answer one question: who truly is the best?
There have been debates about who truly deserves the trophy itself, considering both personal achievements alongside club and country contributions throughout the past year. With that, many are believing that these players are truly the favourites for this year’s award:
Lamine Yamal
Since making his debut for Barcelona at only 16 years old, the teenage sensation has lit up the footballing world and made it clear for everyone to see: he will be a future Ballon d’Or winner. The past year saw the Spaniard have an impressive club campaign, netting double figures in both goals and assist throughout the 25/26 LaLiga season, seeing Barcelona lift the trophy on an impressive 94 points, alongside their victory over Real Madrid in the Super Copa de Espana final.
However, the most important achievement for Lamine Yamal’s Ballon d’Or charge came as Spain lifted the World Cup, defeating Argentina 1-0 in the MetLife Stadium.
Following up from his runner up position in the 2025 Ballon d’Or, Lamine Yamal seeks to become the youngest ever recipient of the award, capping off terrific campaign.
Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe looks to follow in the footsteps of his French compatriot Ousmanne Dembele in this year’s ceremony, coming off a fantastic individual campaign.
The Frenchman’s prolific goalscoring form carried throughout all the competitions that he participated in, seeing him find the back of the net an impressive 25 times throughout his league campaign and seeing him finish as the league’s top scorer.
His goalscoring form carried over to the Champions League with an impressive 15 goals, only 2 behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 17, with Mbappe ultimately leading his team to a Champions League Quater Final.
His most impressive achievement however came during the 2026 World Cup, as it saw him finish with 10 goals as the competition’s top scorer, seeing him secure the award back-to-back for the first time in the competition’s history and ultimately moving him as the No.1 goalscorer in World Cup history.
Despite falling short in terms of his trophy catalogue throughout the season, Mbappe will believe that his individual brilliance could be enough to take him all the way.
Harry Kane
The Englishman seeks to be the first Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or since Micheal Owen in 2001 and with his performances across the calendar year, it is hard to see why he shouldn’t be confident. With a staggering 41 G/A in 31 Bundesliga games, Kane saw himself easily take Bayern Munich to another title, with the German outfit only seeing 1 defeat throughout their entire league season.
With 10 goals in the DFB-Pokal, Kane’s efforts saw him take Bayern Munich to a domestic treble alongside a narrow defeat in a Champions League Semi Final, so close to a potential quadruple which would have surely cemented himself as the best player in the world.
His efforts with England saw him finish with 6 goals in the competition as England saw themselves narrowly defeated in the semi-final against Argentina.
While Harry Kane may have not come as close to winning the Ballon d’Or in the past compared to Yamal or Mbappe, he surely must feel that his efforts across the year have brought him as close as possible to taking home the award.
While all players involved believe they are worthy winners of the Ballon d’Or, only one can be victorious in the end.
