The World Cup will have a big bearing on who lifts the Ballon d’Or later this year – but who are the leading contenders as the tournament ticks on?
Big-name players from Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are among the leading contenders after the dust has settled on the 2025-26 campaign season. But it still feels like a remarkably open race.
With that being said, here are our latest Ballon d’Or power rankings for 2026. Keep checking back as we’ll be keeping on top of all the runners and riders up until the award is handed out later this year.
10. Vitinha (=)
The best midfielder in the world right now, quite possibly.
A disappointing World Cup, with some baffling management from Roberto Martinez, shouldn’t have us forget how important he was in PSG retaining their European crown.
Two years in a row now, he’s completely bossed the biggest stage in club football. Arsenal had the lowest share of possession on record in a Champions League final, and his ability to dictate the game on PSG’s terms was a key reason why.
Vitinha didn’t catch the eye for Portugal, but his club exploits can not be discounted.
9. Rodri (NEW)
He won’t be winning it again, but he’s back to his best.
It’s been a long road back to greatness, but Rodri has looked every bit the player that lifted the award back in 2024 in Spain’s run to the final.
The midfielder has been exceptional in the knockout stages, completely integral to the level of control Spain play with. They look like an elite-level club side, and he’s the main reason why.
8. Kylian Mbappe (-6)
We had Mbappe in the lower reaches of this list throughout the 2025-26 season.
A second year without a trophy at Real Madrid, PSG continuing to thrive in his absence, question marks over whether an elite-level team can accommodate a player that does so little work off the ball.
But it looked as though all of those legitimate questions would be instantly forgotten after Mbappe lit up the World Cup, looking unstoppable in France’s run to the semi-finals.
That all came to an abrupt end as Les Bleus’ hopes were dashed in brutal fashion by Spain, a game that was reminiscent of Mbappe’s frequent woes in El Clasico – him often running offside, his team’s midfield looking easily bypassed and dysfunctional against a side that can pass the ball and set the tempo.
He will be 28 (at least) before he wins the Champions League, and surely the Ballon d’Or too. Who saw that coming 10 years ago?
7. Erling Haaland (-1)
We had the Norwegian as the frontrunner in the early months of the season, but that was when he was on track to break Messi’s most ridiculous goalscoring records.
He fell out of the list entirely as Manchester City’s title charge fell away.
Seven goals in the World Cup, including two to knock out Brazil, ought to be rewarded with a place in the top 10.
6. Michael Olise (-1)
Olise reached Ballon d’Or-worthy levels in the spring. He was astonishingly good in Bayern’s run to the Champions League semi-finals, and we had him up in the top three – even briefly top! – after his devastating performances against Real Madrid.
He won a Bundesliga title and enjoyed a miles better 2025-26 campaign – 22 goals and 31 (!!!) assists in 52 appearances was a superb return – than his Les Bleus team-mate Kylian Mbappe.
Olise was also superb in the World Cup, but not going all the way means that he’ll have to settle for challenging for the top five.
5. Lamine Yamal (+2)
The Barcelona wonderkid finished runner-up last year despite notching considerably fewer goals and assists than Salah.
It does feel like there’s a degree of PR with Yamal’s runner-up finish, if you judge his season as a whole with a clear head.
And when it came to crunch time, Yamal has arguably hit new heights. You watch his most recent displays, before that injury, and can’t escape the feeling that he might just be the best footballer in the world, already, at the age of 10.
He was Barcelona’s best player in their La Liga title triumph and nearly inspired them to a famous comeback in Madrid. Had Fermin Lopez scored from his sublime trivela cross, who knows?
Yamal hasn’t had the kind of individual World Cup campaign that’d see him genuinely enter the conversation, but he’s in the final. Produce an all-timer of a performance on the biggest stage of all, and who knows?
4. Ousmane Dembele (-1)
Only Messi and Ronaldo have retained the Ballon d’Or since Marco van Basten way back in the late ’80s. With all due respect to Dembele, he’s not at their level.
We had the holder as something of an afterthought for the first half of an underwhelming, injury-hit campaign. But Dembele has climbed with almost every update.
He scored some big knockout goals in the Champions League, including a nerveless penalty in the final, and enjoyed a decent enough World Cup. But France’s semi-final defeat surely means he won’t be going back-to-back.
3. Jude Bellingham (+5)
Bellingham endured a frustrating season with Real Madrid, but became England’s main man at the World Cup.
Seven goals, including two each against Mexico and Norway in the knockouts, dragged the team kicking and screaming into the semi-finals.
It’s hard to think there were serious questions about Bellingham’s place in the XI pre-tournament.
2. Harry Kane (-1)
If the Ballon d’Or was based purely on the 2025-26 club season, Kane would practically have this in the bag.
PSG winning the Champions League doesn’t change the fact that the England captain has, quite obviously, been the standout individual in European football over the past year.
Sixty-one(!) goals in all competitions is the most scored by any player since the ridiculous peak years of Messi and Ronaldo.
He’s been Bayern’s standout man and most important player, firing them to a domestic double, winning a second European Golden Shoe, and capping off his superb year in sensational style with a hat-trick in the DFB Pokal final.
But losing in the Champions League and World Cup semi-finals may see Kane pipped to the post on a wave of sentimentality.
1. Lionel Messi (+5)
Surely the only semi-realistic contender from outside the European elite.
Planet Football received (warranted, to be fair) pelters for persevering with the eight-time winner in our 2024 power rankings.
We learned our lesson last year. Messi could score a hundred goals out in MLS, and it wouldn’t move the needle when it comes to the Ballon d’Or – rightly so, the award is recognition for those at the very top of the game.
But, in a tournament year… *Al Pacino voice* Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
And our faith in Messi’s greatness has been rewarded. He’s one game away from winning the Golden Boot and a second World Cup. If that happens – a big if, granted – every chance he wins No.9. Ridiculous.
