SportsCatch
EN

Ballon d'Or 2026: AI names Lamine Yamal favourite ahead of Kane and Mbappé

Six days before the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony, scheduled for October 26 in London, French firm AVISIA gives Lamine Yamal the edge with 23% chances, ahead of Harry Kane (21%) and Kylian Mbappé (19%).

1 min read
Ballon d'Or 2026: AI names Lamine Yamal favourite ahead of Kane and Mbappé
Share

Lamine Yamal is the artificial intelligence favourite for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, with the ceremony taking place on October 26 in London. According to predictions from French firm AVISIA, specialised in data and AI, the FC Barcelona forward has a 23% chance of success, ahead of Harry Kane (21%), Kylian Mbappé (19%), Rodri (19%) and Lionel Messi (18%).

To establish these probabilities, AVISIA relies on a classification algorithm called Random Forest, which cross-references individual and collective performances, media prominence and historical voting trends, based on data from its Player Index.

The firm claims a solid track record: it says it correctly identified all five players in the Top 5 at the 2025 edition, won by Ousmane Dembélé, and claims 75% accuracy in predictions for the 2026 World Cup. These figures lend credibility to the approach, even if the statistical model cannot anticipate last-minute votes or potential voter bias.

Lamine Yamal therefore approaches the London evening with the tag of algorithmic favourite. It remains to be seen whether the journalists and observers tasked with voting will confirm this verdict.

Share
{# Sitewide native fullscreen interstitial — our own bet-CTA card blown up to a takeover (replaces the SDK overlay). The shared card animations + countdown load once, AFTER the interstitial markup, so the countdown script's first tick sees this card's node too (the in-read card, in
above, already exists). One include covers both surfaces. #}