Ballon d'Or Race: Who Will Claim the Title This Year?
The title of “best player on the planet” usually finds its way to the man holding a World Cup or a Champions League trophy. This year, the picture is far messier.
Spain’s triumph on North American soil has thrown fresh names into the frame. Rodri, already crowned Ballon d’Or winner in 2024, stands there again, the metronome who turned control into silverware. Alongside him now, at Barcelona, is Lamine Yamal, the teenager whose summer on the global stage made him look far too comfortable under the brightest lights. Both have the medals, both have the narrative. Both will feel the award is within reach.
Harry Kane can say the same, at least statistically. Sixty-one goals for Bayern Munich in a single season is a number that usually bulldozes any debate. He fired the Bundesliga champions forward at a relentless pace, a one-man guarantee of goals. Yet the Champions League escaped him in 2026, and in this era, that absence still weighs heavily when the votes are cast.
Paris Saint-Germain did not miss out. They went back-to-back in Europe, asserting a kind of club dominance that once belonged to Real Madrid. That opens the door to a different conversation. Ousmane Dembele, already a Champions League winner again, could ride that wave into the Golden Ball reckoning, or another of PSG’s stars could climb past him and claim the spotlight.
Bacary Sagna thinks the winner will not come from Madrid at all, despite the obvious candidate. Speaking to GOAL, the former Arsenal, Manchester City and France defender backed a different kind of season, and a different kind of star.
Asked whether Kylian Mbappe, in his eyes the best in the world right now, should finally receive the Ballon d’Or, Sagna did not hesitate to praise him – but he did hesitate to anoint him.
“For me the best at the minute, he's in the top three. He had an amazing year and he is for me one of the best,” Sagna said. “But being a striker gives more chances to score, so more chances for the people to look at him favourably.”
Then he turned the spotlight elsewhere.
“For me, Kvara deserves the Ballon d'Or. For me, Kvara [Khvicha Kvaratskhelia] has been phenomenal and being a winger and having such an impact and successful campaign. Apart from winning the Champions League, I think football players will agree that Kvara was the most important player last season.”
That is the crux of this race: numbers versus influence, aura versus impact. Mbappe dazzled on the biggest international stage again. Sagna made sure to acknowledge that too.
“Of course Kylian had an amazing World Cup and I was pleased to see him scoring so many goals, not only because he's French but because I love football and when I see him shining the way he's starting the season, that's his standard, that's his level and he is in the top few players,” he added. “He might be the top, the best player in the world, but the problem is how impactful were you for your team last season?”
That question hangs over Madrid like a cloud.
Real Madrid, even with their latest Galactico leading the line, have gone two straight seasons without a major trophy. Mbappe has done his part in front of goal: two La Liga Golden Boots, 90 goals in 106 appearances, a strike rate that would normally define an era. Yet the cabinet has stayed shut. No Champions League, no domestic dominance to seal his case.
So the debate around him has shifted. It is no longer about whether he is good enough. It is about whether his club success will ever match his individual brilliance.
Louis Saha knows what that scrutiny feels like. Another former France international, he also spoke to GOAL about Mbappe’s Ballon d’Or prospects and the strange weight that now follows the forward.
“That's a difficult one, because for sure he wants to win those trophies,” Saha admitted. “He knows that by winning the Champions League, you have a greater chance to win the Ballon d'Or. He knows that that's the way to put all the qualities in front of the best eyes to be judged.”
The pressure, Saha suggested, is no longer just about performance. It is about narrative.
“I do understand that the pressure is on because now it's been almost a very controversial way of not being in those finals,” he said. “He left the club that won it and now going to a club which is supposed to be one of the favourites, and they don't reach the finals.”
That storyline has started to follow Mbappe around Europe. Saha did not shy away from the harsh metaphor.
“It's starting to question a little bit on the personal side. Let's say on the spiritual side, he seems to be a black cat in a way. So that's the bad line that he wants to rectify as quickly as possible.”
There is sympathy there as well as criticism. Saha sees a player still chasing the prize his talent demands.
“It's always nice to see someone succeed and reach their goals when they have the potential. I think he deserves it. Regardless of people criticising his style of play, he wants to have everything.
“Every situation needs to be about him and that's the proof of greats. But sometimes if things don’t work out, it's easy to criticise. If Cristiano couldn't convert all these trophies that he had over the years, he would have been doomed a long time ago.”
That comparison is telling. Cristiano Ronaldo built his legend on the fusion of goals and trophies, of personal records and collective glory. Mbappe, for now, owns the first part of that equation at Real Madrid. The second still eludes him.
So the Ballon d’Or race rolls on without a clear, uncontested king. Rodri with his control, Yamal with his fearlessness, Kane with his goals, Dembele with his medals, Kvaratskhelia with his influence, Mbappe with his raw, unstoppable talent.
The award will go to one of them. The question is whether it will reward the man with the biggest numbers, the heaviest trophy, or the player who truly bent a season to his will.
