Ballon d'Or 2026: Who will win... and who should win?

The Ballon d’Or ceremony heads to London on Monday as Harry Kane looks to make history in the capital.

England captain Harry Kane is the favourite to win the 2026 prize, but the likes of Lamine Yamal and, more significantly, Kylian Mbappe remains in the race heading into the final hours.

Spain and Barcelona star Yamal was briefly favourite a few weeks ago, and has remained within touching distance of Kane in the betting markets as recently as just a few days ago, but now all the momentum is with France and Real Madrid star Mbappe.

So, we asked the Standard Sport reporters who they think will win the 2026 Ballon d’Or... and who should win.

Who will win the 2026 Ballon d’Or?

Lamine Yamal

AFP/Getty

Matt Verri, sport reporter

Who will win: Lamine Yamal

Who should win: Harry Kane

The good news is that the exhaustingly dull PR campaigns are finally over. The bad news for Harry Kane is that the Spanish clubs treat this process as its own sport.

Nobody has been pushing Lamine Yamal's case more than Lamine Yamal. There is every chance the hype around the teenager distracts from an indifferent World Cup due to injury. The most exciting player in the world may well get his wish.

The best player in the world last season should win. Harry Kane notched 73 goals, second only to Lionel Messi in terms of a goalscoring season.

Kane scored in every knockout round of the Champions League, including both semi-final legs against Paris Saint-Germain, and scored six goals in the World Cup. He tore up the Bundesliga and scored a hat-trick in a cup final.

The complete player deserves the ultimate recognition.

Favourite: Harry Kane

PA

Dom Smith, sport reporter

Who will win: Harry Kane

Who should win: Harry Kane

It shouldn’t be close this year; it should be Kane's award at a canter. But I think it will be a close-run thing in the end — much closer than it ought to be.

I think so often we forget what the Ballon d'Or is, and so do many of the contenders in their cringey interviews. It's not the best player on the planet. It's not the best player from last season until the following October. It's the best player of the previous season, end of.

Clearly, it should therefore be Kane. His 73 goals in a single campaign for club and country have only been bettered in football's modern history by one player, Lionel Messi, and I have a feeling Kane will have done just enough to take the award home in London, albeit with far less than 50 per cent of the overall vote.

It shouldn't even be close this year. We know it will be, because of Yamal's PR campaign and Bayern and England's failure to win the Champions League and World Cup. But however close the vote split proves to be, Kane is the only rightful winner. For an award that wants the previous season's finest player, he was the previous season's finest player.

Kylian Mbappe

Getty

Sam Tabuteau, sport reporter

Who will win: Kylian Mbappe

Who should win: Harry Kane

While I firmly believe Harry Kane should win the Ballon d’Or, but he has not played the game well enough, and his reluctance to self-promote will cost him.

Kylian Mbappe knows how important it is to court the vote, as does Lamine Yamal. Their press runs in recent weeks have made the race for the Ballon d’Or much closer than it ought to be.