Ballon d’Or 2026: Lamine Yamal omitted by two voters as Rodri and Pau Cubarsi surprise

The debate over the 2026 Ballon d’Or continued after Harry Kane was crowned the winner, with individual journalists’ ballots revealing striking differences in how the leading candidates were assessed.

Lamine Yamal was among the most notable names to suffer from the split in opinion. The Barcelona and Spain forward had been regarded as one of the leading contenders, but he was left out of the top 10 by journalists representing Belarus and Croatia.

The findings, highlighted by French outlet Foot Mercato, showed how widely opinions differed between voters. The Belarusian journalist placed Lionel Messi first, followed by Rodri and Kane, while the Croatian voter ranked Rodri at the top, ahead of Erling Haaland and Messi.

Yamal was rated fifth by the Colombian journalist and fourth by the Vietnamese voter. He also finished fifth in the Ecuadorian ballot, where three French players occupied four of the top places: Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe.

The Montenegro vote placed Yamal fourth, behind Kane, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Messi. The contrasting positions underline the differing views of his season, despite his status as one of the most prominent players of the new generation.

Rodri leads several ballots

Yamal was not the only leading contender to receive sharply different treatment. Rodri topped the rankings submitted by the journalists from Croatia, Vietnam and the Czech Republic.

The Czech voter placed Mbappe second and Messi third, but ranked Kane only 10th, despite the England striker ultimately winning the award.

The Kosovo ballot was more closely aligned with the final outcome. Kane was placed first, ahead of Mbappe and Kvaratskhelia.

Kvaratskhelia was among the biggest beneficiaries of the varied voting. The forward appeared in the top three in more than one ballot, including the Kosovo list, where he finished third behind Kane and Mbappe, and the Romanian journalist’s selection.

Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi also made an unexpected impact. He was ranked third by the Swiss journalist and seventh by the Croatian voter. The Croatian top-10 list also included Vitinha.

Different views despite shared criteria

Ballon d’Or voting is based on three principal considerations: a player’s individual performances and decisive influence, collective achievements and trophies won with their club, and sporting conduct and respect for fair play.

Each participating country’s representative submits a list of the 10 players they consider the best, with points awarded according to the order in which the players are placed.

Although the criteria are clearly defined, voters can still differ substantially in how they judge a player’s performances and the importance of their achievements. The ballots published so far have provided a clear illustration of that subjectivity.