A London gala with no obvious winner
The suspense is intact. The 70th Ballon d’Or will be handed out in London on Monday night, where France Football has taken its gala abroad for one year only. The ceremony starts at 8pm local time, 9pm in Paris. Red carpet, live music and the side awards (best young player, best goalkeeper) come first, then the ranking is revealed bit by bit until the winners.
No name stands out to succeed Ousmane Dembélé. The PSG forward kept his Champions League crown, but his individual numbers were less dazzling than a year ago.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Kane, Mbappé, Yamal: three cases
Harry Kane brings the heaviest numbers: 61 goals for Bayern Munich, who reached the European semi-finals, and 73 once his England goals are added. England finished third at the 2026 World Cup. Only Lionel Messi has scored more in a single season, with 82 in 2010-11.
Kylian Mbappé, 27, has made his pitch loudly. He was top scorer in La Liga (25) and the Champions League (15), and he is the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 22 goals, ten of them this summer. But the Real Madrid forward won nothing, with club or country.
Lamine Yamal, 19, has the opposite argument. The Barcelona winger won La Liga and, above all, the World Cup.
The rest of the shortlist and how the vote works
The 30 nominees also include Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, eight-time winner Lionel Messi and Michael Olise, credited with 31 assists and 22 goals for Bayern the previous season.
One journalist per country votes, drawn from the top 100 nations in the FIFA men’s ranking and the top 50 for women. The criteria, in order: individual performance and decisiveness, team results and honours, then conduct.
Putellas goes for a third
Aitana Bonmati, winner of the last three editions, will lose her crown after an injury-hit season. Alexia Putellas, who won in 2021 and 2022 and now plays for the London City Lionesses, is chasing a third trophy. She faces Ewa Pajor, Claudia Pina, Lyon’s Melchie Dumornay and Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw.
Catch up on the rest of our football coverage on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply