Harry Kane won the trophy at the London Palladium. Kylian Mbappé came second, Lamine Yamal third and Rodri fourth. Then came the 39-year-old playing his club football in Major League Soccer.
Messi’s fifth place at the 2026 Ballon d’Or left him the only player attached to a non-European club anywhere in the top ten. Every other name on the list draws a pay cheque from the Premier League, LaLiga, Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga.
The full top ten:
- Harry Kane
- Kylian Mbappé
- Lamine Yamal
- Rodri
- Lionel Messi
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
- Ousmane Dembélé
- Erling Haaland
- Michael Olise
- Fabián Ruiz
The World Cup carried him there
Messi’s standing was built on a tournament that still ended in defeat. He scored eight goals and provided four assists in eight World Cup appearances for Argentina, according to Sports Mole, and left North America with the Silver Ball and the Silver Boot. Rodri, Spain’s holding midfielder who ended up fourth in the Ballon d’Or vote, had taken the World Cup’s Golden Ball ahead of him; Mbappé took the Golden Boot.
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Argentina reached the final, where they lost 1-0 to Spain after extra time.
That record pushed Messi three places above Haaland, Manchester City’s striker, and two above Dembélé, the Paris Saint-Germain forward in seventh.
An MLS season nobody could ignore
The club year backed up the national-team one. Inter Miami’s captain scored 29 goals and provided 18 assists in 28 regular-season appearances in 2026, according to beIN Sports, and collected his second consecutive MLS MVP. Inter Miami had won the first MLS Cup in the club’s history at the end of 2025.
No show in London
Messi was not at the London Palladium to hear his name read out. He skipped the ceremony altogether, with no public explanation offered.
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Three days earlier he had been in Oviedo to receive the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports from Princess Leonor at the Campoamor Theatre, his former club FC Barcelona confirmed. He then returned to the United States for the Messi Cup, a youth tournament staged in Miami.
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