The 19-year-old defender did not hedge. Asked at Barcelona’s pre-match press conference whether Lamine Yamal should win the Ballon d’Or, Pau Cubarsí answered without the diplomatic cushioning you would expect from a fellow nominee.
“Everyone knows Lamine is the best in the world. He knows it, everyone else knows it, and I could be there too, because of the World Cup I’ve had, but I’m taking it easy and he’s more of a media figure,” Cubarsí said ahead of the Champions League tie against Galatasaray.
Speaking separately to Mundo Deportivo and RAC 1, Cubarsí went further on his teammate’s quiet campaigning.
“I understand that he is campaigning. He deserves it the most and hopefully he wins it.”
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‘He’s more of a media figure’
Cubarsí made the shortlist on the back of a World Cup-winning summer with Spain and a LaLiga title with Barcelona. His own case, in his telling, is simply quieter than Yamal’s.
Fermín López, in the same round of pre-match interviews, backed the same horse.
“For me, definitely. I see him every day, he is spectacular and he had an incredible year at Barça.”
“Kane is also a great player and will certainly be in the top three. I hope Lamine can win.”
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The race, two weeks out
The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is held on Monday 26 October at the London Palladium, 8pm local time, the first edition staged outside Paris. The venue was chosen in honour of Stanley Matthews, the first ever winner, in 1956.
Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane are the two names splitting the bookmakers at the top of the market, with Kylian Mbappé the next horse, according to Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the favourites. Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich in 2025-26; Yamal finished with 24 goals and 17 assists, Player of the Season in LaLiga, and played the full 120 minutes of the World Cup final.
Yamal himself has stayed deliberately low-key. “I am not going to beg for anything,” he said last month, according to ESPN. “I don’t think I need to run a campaign. I am proud of the year I had, winning the World Cup and LaLiga.”
Last year’s winner, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé, left Yamal out of his own top-three picks, naming Mbappé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kane.
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Barcelona play Galatasaray at Rams Park on Tuesday night. The Ballon d’Or envelopes are opened 13 days later.
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