Felix Magath names Marc Cucurella as Ballon d'Or winner ahead of Kane and Yamal

Felix Magath has delivered the most eyebrow-raising Ballon d’Or prediction ahead of Monday’s ceremony in London, naming Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella as his winner ahead of frontrunners Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal. The former Bayern Munich and Fulham manager made his case in German newspaper Bild, placing Rodri second and Fabián Ruiz third — and leaving Kane off the list entirely.

Magath’s reasoning centred on Cucurella’s role in Spain’s World Cup triumph. “He is world-class as a left-back, always there, strong at covering ground and loses hardly any duels,” Magath told Bild. “He shuts down his side and also gets forward. He played a big part in Spain’s World Cup title.”

The pick stands in stark contrast to the wider consensus among German football figures. Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Christoph Kramer all named Kane as their winner, with Yamal in second place across the board. That would make it back-to-back runner-up finishes for the Barcelona teenager. Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise and Lionel Messi featured as the various choices for third.

Kane arrives as the favourite having scored 61 goals last season to spearhead Bayern Munich’s domestic dominance, though Bayern were eliminated at the Champions League semi-final stage. Mbappé, meanwhile, became the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer during the tournament, while Olise was named Footballer of the Year in Germany despite playing alongside Kane at Bayern. Messi’s Argentina fell short of back-to-back World Cup titles, losing in the final.

Cucurella’s candidacy faces a significant historical barrier: no defender has won the Ballon d’Or since Fabio Cannavaro claimed it in 2006. Magath was the sole pundit among the five German media figures surveyed to omit Kane from his top three, making his selection an outlier even within a field that otherwise showed broad agreement.

Fabián Ruiz, Magath’s third-place pick, has a credible claim to distinction — he is the only player to have won both the World Cup and the Champions League in the same year. PSG’s run to the Champions League title, combined with Spain’s World Cup success, gives several of their players a plausible route to the podium, with Ousmane Dembélé also mentioned among the contenders.