Shock: Barcelona believe Yamal will not win the Ballon d'Or!

Who is the winner from the Catalan club's point of view?

All eyes turn to London, where tonight's ceremony will reveal the winner of the Ballon d'Or. Inside Barcelona the mood is tense, with signs pointing away from their young star Lamine Yamal despite his nomination for the most prestigious individual prize in football.

According to Cadena SER, there's a feeling at Barcelona that Harry Kane is the closest to lifting the award. The final decision has yet to be settled, and the winner remains unknown.

That sentiment doesn't officially end Yamal's hopes. Nobody knows the winner before the announcement, and the impressions swirling around the club are no confirmation of the vote.

The seventieth edition unfolds this evening, Monday 26 October 2026, at the London Palladium. It marks a historic first, the ceremony held in London for the very first time, 70 years on from the award's launch in 1956.

Three names dominate the men's race: Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona star, Harry Kane, the Bayern Munich striker, and Kylian Mbappé, the Real Madrid forward.

Kane arrives armed with his goalscoring numbers and his domestic titles at Bayern. Yamal leans on his impact with Barcelona and the Spain national team, while Mbappé boasts striking goal tallies despite failing to win silverware in his season with Real Madrid.

For Yamal, the award carries added weight. He wants to make up for last year's defeat, when he finished runner-up behind France's Ousmane Dembélé, winner of the 2025 Ballon d'Or.

The Spanish star also chases history as the youngest player ever crowned, while Kane hopes to become the first Englishman to win it since Michael Owen in 2001