Thomas Müller does not have Harry Kane in his top two for the Ballon d’Or.
Writing in his personal newsletter, as reported by Get Football News Germany, the Bayern Munich great named Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappé as his picks for the 2026 award. His old Bayern striker did not make the cut.
“For me, there are two candidates whose individual performances have impressed me the most, and they are Michael Olise and his brilliant partner at the World Cup, Kylian Mbappé,” Müller wrote.
He praised the pair’s combination of “spectacular play with a real goal threat” and said both were “efficient with their finesse and power.”
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Olise’s World Cup case
The choice is only awkward up to a point. Olise is also a Bayern player, having joined from Crystal Palace in 2024, so Müller is picking one old teammate over another.
Olise built his Ballon d’Or case this summer by breaking Pelé’s record for assists in a single World Cup, racking up seven in North America. Mbappé, his France strike partner, broke the all-time World Cup goals record in the same tournament.
The tournament did not end well for either of them. Spain beat France 2-0 in the semi-final before France lost 6-4 to England in the third-place match on 18 July.
Kane’s Bundesliga numbers
Kane has his own case, built on different ground. He won the Bundesliga’s top scorer prize for a third consecutive season with 36 goals, becoming the first player in league history to top the Bundesliga scorer chart in each of his first three campaigns. He finished the 2025-26 season with 58 goals in all competitions for Bayern.
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Kane and Yamal lead the betting
The Ballon d’Or ceremony is on Monday 26 October at the London Palladium, with France Football moving the event out of Paris to honour Stanley Matthews, the inaugural 1956 winner. Voting closed at midnight on 28 September, so the ballots from the 100 journalists who vote on the men’s prize are already locked in.
Kane and Lamine Yamal are the two names at the top of the betting markets, with the lead changing hands repeatedly in the final week before the ceremony. Yamal has what the voter base typically prizes above everything else: Barcelona’s La Liga title and Spain’s World Cup, won in his first senior major tournament. Kane’s case leans on club football and on sheer volume of goals.
Müller himself is now a long way from the Allianz Arena. He signed a contract extension with Vancouver Whitecaps on 29 September that keeps him in Canada through the 2027 MLS Sprint Season.
