Ballon d’Or conversations have well and truly started with just over a month to go before football’s biggest individual award is handed out. The nominees are out, and players have already started making their case for why they should win.
That has been one of the more interesting parts of this year’s race, with the campaigning becoming much more direct even before the ceremony.
Had he won the World Cup, he would have automatically become the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or for a ninth time. Dembele and Kvaratskhelia won the Champions League with PSG, but the Frenchman’s impact at the World Cup was lower than others’. “There was no player better than me. We were talking about achievements. He scored once and provided one assist at the World Cup, which does weaken his case. The Spaniard arrived at the tournament after recovering from an injury, and that made it difficult for him to make a smooth transition into the biggest footballing event. Messi had an extraordinary World Cup, leading Argentina to the final, but playing outside Europe weakened his case. While Kvaratskhelia’s Georgia did not qualify for the tournament. Olise has a case similar to Dembele, having been one of Bayern’s best players, while Mbappe was France’s standout performer at the World Cup.
However, Yamal, who is quite flamboyant on the pitch, had a strong season in La Liga, scoring 16 goals and providing 11 assists in 28 appearances during the 2025–26 season. The 18-year-old is certainly someone who looks primed to win a Ballon d’Or in the future, but realistically, he isn’t the clear favourite this year. Also Read – Cristiano Ronaldo keeps Portugal chapter alive at 41 with fresh Nations League call-up after World Cup 2026 Lionel Messi, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele, Rodri and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are some of the other names in the race, but their cases are arguably as weak or even weaker than the three discussed above.
Rodri was named Player of the Tournament at the World Cup, but he missed a large part of the season for Manchester City due to injury, and it took him some time to get back to his best after returning.
To score that many goals in the major competitions, where all the great players are, and of course at the World Cup, the biggest event, to become the competition’s all-time leading scorer – throughout my holidays, that was all people talked to me about,” he said in an interview with France Football. “I honestly believe there are two (Kylian Mbappe and him) of us who are the best in the world, and this year I’d deserve it because of what I’ve won,” Lamine said in an interview clip shared by Spanish streaming platform Movistar.
Looking at his season, Mbappe did produce some sensational performances in front of goal for both Real Madrid and France. There is no denying that Mbappe was a force in front of goal, but his impact in the biggest moments was not matched by team success. Real Madrid faded in the second half of the La Liga title race, while their Champions League campaign ended in the quarter-finals. For all the goals he scored, the bigger question remains whether his individual performances translated into enough impact when it mattered most for his teams. With a La Liga title and FIFA World Cup triumph to his name, Yamal feels his trophy haul gives him a strong case for the prestigious individual award. The Barcelona star openly backed himself while also naming Kylian Mbappe as the other leading contender. He continued to show his killer instinct in front of goal in both Bayern Munich and England colours. Many believe he has done enough to stake his claim for the prestigious award, but when you look at Bayern and England’s campaigns, there are a few factors that weaken his case. Michael Olise was named Bundesliga Player of the Month despite Kane finishing as the league’s top scorer, while for England, Jude Bellingham was arguably their standout performer at the World Cup, raising questions over Kane’s standing in the Ballon d’Or race.
He scored 25 goals in La Liga and another 15 in the Champions League before producing one of the defining statistical achievements of his career at the World Cup, where he scored 10 goals. France, meanwhile, finished fourth at the World Cup despite Mbappe’s 10 goals. Number-wise, Harry Kane has perhaps the strongest case for the Ballon d’Or, having scored 73 goals last season.
Yamal finished second in the Ballon d’Or voting last year, but he has now made it clear that he believes this could be his year to go one step further.
