Ballon d'Or 2026: PSG warned after refusing to choose between Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia

PSG refused to choose between Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, and this indecision is beginning to cause ripples. While the Parisian club has ten nominated players this year — a record — it initially backed three candidates (Fabian Ruiz, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia) before quietly sidelining the Spaniard, without designating a single official favourite.

It is this half-measure that journalist Nabil Djellit strongly criticized this week. On L’Équipe’s channel, he directly challenged president Nasser al-Khelaïfi. “This communication and this Ballon d’Or campaign from PSG’s side is a real own goal. At first there were three, now there are only two. I put myself in Fabian Ruiz’s shoes; they put him forward, they withdraw him. World champion, he won the Ligue des Champions, I find that rather vexing and humiliating for the Spaniard.”

Djellit then recalled the method of other major European clubs. “They should have done what the other big European clubs do. You have to make a choice and position yourself behind a single candidate.” He cited Real Madrid, which bet on Kylian Mbappé despite the presence of Jude Bellingham and Vinicius, Barcelona behind Lamine Yamal despite Ballon d’Or holder Rodri, and Bayern Munich rallying behind Harry Kane rather than Michael Olise.

To illustrate the risks of a scattered strategy, the journalist evoked Liverpool in 2019. Jürgen Klopp had not chosen between Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk. Result: the Reds’ votes scattered, and it was Lionel Messi who pipped Van Dijk at the post.

The argument does, however, find a limit in PSG’s own recent history. Last year, Ousmane Dembélé was not officially the club’s designated candidate — until Marquinhos launched his now famous “And Ousmane Ballon d’Or” from the open-top bus going up the Champs-Élysées after PSG’s first Ligue des Champions triumph. An improvisation that, this time, had worked.