Did Mbappé and Yamal ruin the Ballon d'Or recipe with a "pinch of salt"?
The spell backfired on the magician
The crowning of Harry Kane, the Bayern Munich star, with the 2026 Ballon d'Or was not merely a triumph of numbers and achievements on the pitch. It also raised a different question: what part did the media statements of his rivals, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, play in the race for the award?
Both stars had made bold claims to their entitlement at the very moment journalists were voting to pick the best in the world.
Mbappé's pressure on the journalists
Speaking to the French newspaper L'Équipe last September, Mbappé, the Real Madrid star, laid out his confidence that the award was his to claim. He believed he had a chance of winning it and that it was one of his near-term goals, before going further: "I don't think any player produced a better season than me."
The Frenchman also stressed that the Ballon d'Or is an individual award, citing the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and insisting the award goes not to ordinary players but to those who deliver exceptional levels. He even said he would vote for himself if asked to choose the winner.
His argument did not stop at ambition. Mbappé presented himself as the most deserving, drawing on his scoring numbers, having netted 42 goals in 44 competitive matches with Real Madrid during the season under evaluation, in addition to his brilliance at the World Cup, where he topped the list of scorers with 10 goals.
Those numbers carry weight. Yet the French star did not win any major titles with his club or his national team during the same season, which handed his rivals, foremost among them Kane, the advantage on collective achievements.
Yamal joins the public dispute
Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona star, waded into a public dispute with Mbappé over the criteria for selecting the winner. He stressed that he had produced a distinguished season with his club and the Spain national team and possessed everything needed to compete for the award. His remarks about the value of goals in deciding the winner sparked far greater controversy.
Yamal told Movistar Plus that the Ballon d'Or should be given to the best player in the world, not to a player who scores 80 goals. Scoring that number of goals deserves the top scorer award, he explained, while the Ballon d'Or represents a different kind of honour. Many people, he added, do not understand the difference between the two.
Those words were read as a dig at Mbappé, who shone exceptionally on the individual level last season.
Earlier, in September, the teenager had insisted he did not need to beg journalists for their votes. He had done an amazing job with Barcelona and the Spain national team, he said, and would thank his teammates if he won the award.
But his later comments, denying that a prolific goalscorer deserved the Ballon d'Or, pushed the debate in a different direction. They appeared to downplay one of the most prominent weapons in the arsenals of both Mbappé and Kane.
Fatal timing
Timing is everything. These statements landed during the voting period of the jury, which comprises 100 sports journalists representing the highest-ranked nations on the FIFA list, before voting closed on 28 September. Each journalist picks ten players and ranks them in order of preference.
The comments from Mbappé and Yamal, then, were no passing opinions about the award. They arrived while the voters were already making up their minds about the candidates.
That raises a possibility: the media campaign may have backfired on the pair. Some journalists may have felt the repeated insistence on entitlement was an attempt to sway their decisions or pile on pressure, rather than letting performance on the pitch do the talking.
No evidence proves the two stars' statements changed any specific votes. But the tone each of them used may have coloured the image of the candidates in the minds of some voters, especially in a very close race.
Did Kane understand the game?
Kane struck a very different tone. He avoided any direct dispute with his rivals and kept the focus on his performance, his teammates and the achievements of Bayern Munich and the England national team.
Talking to the Spanish newspaper "Marca", the English striker said he does not like to talk much about himself. He called last season the best of his career, both individually and collectively, insisting that scoring 73 goals during the season speaks for itself, and he thanked his teammates and everyone who helped him reach the tally.
Respect for the competition came through clearly too. Kane acknowledged how hard it was to choose between a group of players who had produced exceptional seasons, insisting the decision rested with the journalists and that he could not control how they rated the candidates.
Rather than casting himself as the only choice, he conceded that his rivals also had strong cases. That approach may have cemented his image as a player confident in his achievements but unwilling to force his opinion on the voters.
The numbers speak for themselves
On the numbers, Kane had a case that is hard to ignore. He scored 61 goals in various competitions with Bayern Munich during the 2025-2026 season, compared to 42 goals for Mbappé with Real Madrid and 24 goals for Yamal with Barcelona in club competitions.
Add his England goals and the striker's tally climbed to 73, alongside eight assists in 65 matches. He also claimed the European Golden Shoe and helped Bayern win the German league, the German Cup and the German Super Cup.
These were not just a huge scoring tally. They fitted the official criteria for the award, which put decisive, dazzling individual performance first, followed by collective performance and titles, then conduct and sportsmanship.
Kane, then, combined individual excellence with collective achievements. Mbappé lacked the major titles to prop up his file, and Yamal's scoring return was nowhere near the English striker's, despite his contributions in creating goals and his titles with Barcelona and the Spain national team.
In the end, no one can say for certain that the statements of Mbappé and Yamal directly helped Kane to the Ballon d'Or. But they may well have handed him an indirect edge in the race.
