Ronaldo Nazário was 21 years and 92 days old when France Football handed him the Ballon d’Or in December 1997. Twenty-nine years later, the mark has never come close to falling.
Lamine Yamal is 19. If he collects the trophy in London on Monday 26 October, the Brazilian’s record goes with it.
Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina at the New York New Jersey Stadium on 19 July, decided by a Ferran Torres goal in the 106th minute, reordered the race almost overnight. Before the tournament, Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane led most power rankings after a 73-goal season, with Yamal second. Post-final, several outlets have moved Yamal to first, ahead of Kane, Lionel Messi and reigning holder Ousmane Dembélé.
From runner-up to favourite in ten months
Yamal was already closer to it than most realised. He finished second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or behind Dembélé and picked up a second consecutive Kopa Trophy for the world’s best under-21 player.
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The 2025-26 club season did not settle the question. Barcelona won La Liga and the Supercopa but were knocked out of the Champions League short of the final. In Goal.com’s early-July rankings Yamal sat second with 26 goals and 21 assists, and the outlet warned that “Yamal’s failure to put his own individual stamp on the tournament means he may well fall just short in the Ballon d’Or race once again.”
The tournament they were talking about ended eleven days later, with Yamal on the pitch as Spain became world champions.
The records piled up in North America
Yamal started seven of Spain’s eight matches at the World Cup and won all seven. Combined with his six starts at Euro 2024, that is 13 major-tournament starts and 13 wins, the longest perfect streak for any European player in the competition’s history.
At 19 years and six days on final day, he became the youngest player ever to win both a World Cup and a European Championship, and the first to reach a final in both tournaments before turning 20. His 35 completed dribbles across the United States, Canada and Mexico were more than either Kylian Mbappé or Messi has managed in any single World Cup.
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Joe Hart, capped 75 times by England, was struck less by the numbers than by how Yamal handled Argentina’s attempts to unsettle him.
“Not only did Lamine Yamal not react. He stood up to it. He was not rattled and he did not back down. He had the entire team trying to smash him. He just stayed real cool,” Hart said.
“Lamine Yamal is 19 years old. What a beautiful day for him. He’s 19 and has completed football.”
Yamal’s own summary, posted on Instagram after the final, ran to four words: “Almost completed the set.”
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Kane, Messi and Dembélé still have a case
The race is not decided. Kane’s 73 goals for a Bundesliga-winning Bayern side is the biggest raw haul in the field. Messi, 39, dragged Argentina to the final and sits second on several updated boards. Dembélé, the reigning winner, is fourth after another decorated season at Paris Saint-Germain.
France Football’s 30-man shortlist is due in the coming weeks, with votes cast by one journalist from each of the top 100 FIFA-ranked nations. The winner is announced on 26 October at the first ceremony ever held outside Paris, staged in London in tribute to Sir Stanley Matthews, the English winger who claimed the inaugural award in 1956.
Ronaldo’s record has now stood for 29 years. The verdict comes in London on 26 October.
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