“I would have backed one player”: Ballon d’Or chief identifies major mistake by Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane’s rivals

The editor-in-chief of France Football has named what he sees as the biggest mistake made by one of Harry Kane’s rivals for the Ballon d’Or.

Vincent Garcia is editor-in-chief of the French sports magazine that traditionally organises the Ballon d'Or award. At Monday's gala in London, the Bayern Munich striker claimed the honour for the first time in his career, edging out Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) and Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) by the narrowest of margins.

In an interview with the sports newspaper L’Equipe, Garcia explained why he thought PSG's players had not finished higher, despite Luis Enrique's side defending their Champions League title last season and winning the world's most prestigious club competition again.

Three PSG players reached the top 10: last year's winner Ousmane Dembele finished seventh, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was just ahead of him in sixth, and Fabian Ruiz came tenth. None made the top five.

What does the Ballon d'Or chief think PSG got wrong?

"I think PSG's communication wasn't entirely clear. They initially promoted three players, then only two," Garcia said. "It's not my job, because I don't do marketing, but they would have been better off highlighting just one player. I would have backed one player, and that would have been Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele," he added. Garcia believes the PSG stars took votes away from one another.

By contrast, Garcia praised the efforts of Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid, although Mbappe narrowly lost out to Kane. "I think Mbappe ran a really good campaign. He put forward good arguments and communicated his message well to people, including those who were allowed to vote," the editor-in-chief said.

Saturday's next issue of France Football will publish the full results, showing who voted for whom and how many votes each individual player received.