A podium nobody else had
Zdravko Reić has voted for Croatia in the Ballon d’Or since 1992, and his 2026 ballot looked nothing like the final result. Harry Kane won the award on Monday night in London, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal. None of those three was on Reić’s podium. He put Rodri first, Erling Haaland second and Lionel Messi third.
His full top ten, which he explained to the Croatian outlet Večernji list, continued with Ferran Torres, Mbappé, Kane, Pau Cubarsí, Vitinha, Ousmane Dembélé and Jude Bellingham. Kane landed sixth. Yamal did not make the list at all.
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The World Cup logic, and one regret
Reić says he built his vote almost entirely around this summer’s World Cup. Rodri was named the tournament’s best player, Haaland carried Norway to a run Reić wanted to reward, Messi led Argentina to the final, and Torres scored in it. The Champions League and everything else came second.
On Kane, he now backs down. “I must now admit that it was a mistake,” he said, adding that ranking the England captain so low was wrong. On Yamal he holds firm: the winger arrived at the World Cup injured, barely played, and in Reić’s view contributed little to Spain’s wins.
Each of the 100 voters, one per top-ranked national team, picks ten players and awards 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points. The window ran from August 3, 2025 to July 19, 2026. One low ballot could not stop Kane.
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