The Ballon d’Or may be heading to Germany, with Harry Kane back as the favourite to lift the trophy on betting sites.
After scoring 73 goals in 65 appearances for club and country, including six goals for England at the World Cup, Kane has been reinstalled as the favourite to clinch world football’s top individual honour.
The race previously shifted in favour of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, with the teenager going odds-on with the bookies after he played his part in Spain becoming the world champions for only the second time.
But ahead of the glittering ceremony on October 26, the England skipper could be about to add even more honours to his already impressive CV.
2026 Ballon d’Or odds
Were Kane to win the Ballon d’Or, he’d be only the fifth Englishman to clinch the prize and the first since Michael Owen in 2001. He was installed as the early frontrunner by football betting sites after a storming 2025/26 campaign.
Kane’s form since joining the German giants has been incredible, with 152 goals in 154 appearances as he helped his side to two Bundesliga titles, the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup and the German Cup.
On a personal level, he has been the Bundesliga’s top scorer for each of his three seasons in Germany, including last season when he finished with 36 goals in 31 league appearances.
His form for England has been equally impressive this year too, with the ex-Tottenham forward taking his tally to 91 goals and counting for the national side, playing a starring role in their run to the World Cup semi-finals.
Ballon d’Or betting: Yamal is still a major contender
Despite Kane’s goalscoring exploits, the Ballon d’Or betting market recently shifted in favour of Yamal, who was as short as 1/2 on some betting apps before Kane’s latest surge.
The 19-year-old has enjoyed another remarkable season, helping Barcelona win La Liga before going to North America, where he was a part of the Spain side that defeated Argentina in the World Cup final.
The teenager finished as runner-up to Ousmane Dembele in last year's Ballon d’Or, and in addition to the World Cup win, he scored 25 goals for club and country last term, but he only found the net once at the World Cup.
His Spain teammate Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2024 after helping Manchester City to the Premier League title and La Roja to the 2024 European Championships, was also as high as the fifth favourite behind Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, but he’s now drifted out to 100/1.
He started every single game for Spain at the World Cup and picked up the Golden Ball award, but he has now slipped behind the likes of Bukayo Saka, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dominik Szoboszlai in the betting.
Ballon d’Or 2026 odds: Golden Boot enough for Mbappe?
Kylian Mbappe also tasted disappointment at the World Cup as France finished fourth, but he won the Golden Boot for the second tournament in a row after scoring 10 and assisting a further four goals.
He scored twice in the third-placed play-off defeat to England to move two clear of Messi in the scoring charts, finishing as top scorer.
The Real Madrid striker was in excellent scoring form for his club last season, too, finishing the campaign with 58 goals in 60 appearances for club and country, including 15 in the Champions League, to top the scoring charts.
Real finished trophyless, though, after being pipped to the La Liga title by Barcelona and beaten by the same opponents in the Spanish Super Cup final.
The 27-year-old’s best finish in the Ballon d’Or is third back in 2023 when Lionel Messi won for the eighth time, and the odds suggest he won’t better that this time around.
Messi odds for Ballon d’Or
Messi retains an outside chance of winning what would be an extraordinary ninth Ballon d’Or title.
His last victory came in 2023, and he has also finished runner-up five times, with Cristiano Ronaldo edging him out for top spot four times, while he was also runner-up to Kaká in 2007.
At 39, Messi was instrumental in his country reaching their second consecutive World Cup final, with eight goals and four assists to finish second to Mbappe in the race to the Golden Boot for the second tournament in a row.
This is surely his last chance to win the much-coveted trophy once more, with bookmakers currently offering a best price of 22/1 on that.
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