Kylian Mbappé told France Football he would put his own name on the ballot. Lamine Yamal told Movistar he and Mbappé are “the two best in the world” and that he was the one who deserved to win. Harry Kane, the bookmakers’ favourite, has said almost nothing about either of them.

Voting for the 2026 Ballon d’Or closed at the end of Monday 28 September, with the ceremony still four weeks away at the London Palladium on 26 October.

Mbappé and Yamal press their claims

Mbappé’s pitch to France Football was direct.

“Who will I vote for? Myself,” he said in the interview published on 7 September.

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He acknowledged the trophy-count argument working against him and dismissed it in the same breath.

“People say I have not won titles, but I have never seen a unanimous Ballon d’Or given to a player who achieved everything every time,” Mbappé said. “When I look at the arguments, and when I look at the competition, I tell myself that my winning the award would not be a theft.”

Yamal, speaking to Movistar a week later, went further.

“Kylian Mbappé and I, we are the two best in the world. But I think I am the one who deserves to win the Ballon d’Or,” Yamal said. “I believe I deserve this Ballon d’Or, because of the titles I have won and achieved last season.”

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Kane’s short answer

The Bayern Munich striker’s line, from a Marca interview carried by beIN Sports on 18 September, is a piece of deliberate understatement.

“I’ve never really liked talking too much about myself,” Kane told Marca.

His 73 goals last season, he added, “speak for themselves.” He had already made his peace with the process a month earlier.

“The Ballon d’Or is not in my hands. I’ve done what I can do in terms of putting in the performances,” Kane said in comments carried by Goal in August. “We’ll see what happens.”

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The three cases on paper

The three cases, as Sky Sports laid them out on 25 September:

• Kane: 73 goals in 65 games for Bayern and England, the Bundesliga title, the European Golden Shoe, and 100 Bundesliga goals in 98 appearances, 31 games quicker than the previous record.
• Mbappé: 42 goals and seven assists for Real Madrid, and the top scorer awards in La Liga and the Champions League.
• Yamal: 24 goals and 18 assists for Barcelona, plus the La Liga and Spanish Super Cup titles, and the World Cup with Spain.

Mbappé and France went out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage and lost the third-place match to England. Kane scored six goals at that tournament.

The final stretch has favoured the man who said the least. Kane is a best-priced 4/7 with the leading bookmakers, ahead of Yamal at 4/1 and Mbappé at 6/1. The 2026 Ballon d’Or will be presented at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October.

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