Ballon d'Or 2026: Revealed votes expose indefensible choices

Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or with a 28-point lead over Kylian Mbappé, a smaller margin than the one separating Rodri from Vinicius in 2024. The complete publication of ballots from 100 international jurors on Friday evening sheds light on this victory — and exposes choices difficult to justify.

Kane was placed first by 40 journalists, compared to 23 for Mbappé. Lamine Yamal received only 13 first-place votes, Rodri 10 and Lionel Messi 6. Michael Olise was ranked first only by the representative from Curaçao.

The most contested votes concerned Fabian Ruiz. Journalists from Gabon, Peru, Syria and Ukraine all placed the PSG midfielder at the top of their rankings. While Ruiz is indeed a winner of the Ligue des Champions and the World Cup, France Football notes that voting criteria place individual performances ahead of collective honours — an order that these four ballots appear to ignore. The Moroccan representative, for his part, chose Achraf Hakimi, captain of the national team, in first position.

Other ballots fuelled discussions on social media. The Greek journalist placed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia first, ahead of Rodri, but also included Willian Pacho, Marc Cucurella and João Neves in his top 5, without mentioning either Mbappé or Lamine Yamal. The Ukrainian representative placed Pau Cubarsí in second position and Harry Kane only ninth, behind Fabian Ruiz. The Swiss journalist also ranked Cubarsí in third place.

These revelations reignite debate over jury composition and the criteria applied by each voter, at a time when the Ballon d’Or seeks to establish its legitimacy against competition from other individual awards.