Joao Felix has cast his vote publicly, and it goes to Lamine Yamal.

Speaking to AS, the Portugal international framed his case in three words already ricocheting around the game, “Lamine is football”, and pointed to the Barcelona teenager’s World Cup medal as the argument that should settle a tight race.

“And if there is a player who makes you sit in front of the television and remain glued to the screen watching him, it is Lamine. Mbappe and Harry Kane had great seasons, but Lamine is football,” Felix told the paper, in comments reported by Goal and Africa Soccer.

“In addition, he won the World Cup, and in World Cup years, winning the tournament is very important when it comes to moving closer to the Ballon d’Or.”

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Spain won the 2026 World Cup on 19 July, beating Argentina 1-0 in East Rutherford after Ferran Torres struck in the 106th minute. Yamal started the final.

A consensus building around the Barcelona forward

Felix is not alone. Days earlier, Yamal’s Barcelona teammate Raphinha made his own emphatic pitch.

“Undoubtedly, yes,” the Brazilian said when asked whether Yamal was the deserving winner, adding that “what he does on the pitch, his statistics and the titles he has won would make him the leading candidate for me, and he should win it.”

Rodri, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner and Spain’s World Cup Golden Ball winner, has also lined up behind his young international teammate in the public conversation around the vote.

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Mbappe wants the trophy back at the Bernabeu

The consensus is not universal. Kylian Mbappe, the other leading contender, has been openly campaigning for his own case, telling reporters “I would be disappointed if I don’t win it” and framing the award as a Real Madrid project.

“The Ballon d’Or must return to the Santiago Bernabeu,” the Frenchman said. He finished top scorer in La Liga and the Champions League and picked up the World Cup Golden Boot in a France side that lost to Spain in the semi-final.

Felix on being left off the shortlist

Felix himself was not among the 30 men named on the France Football list, and told AS he was not troubled by it.

“These are things that do not depend on me, and I do not know who chooses the list or how it is decided. I was not worried about it, and I did not even know when it was going to be announced. I am calm about it.”

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The Portugal forward has scored four times and set up three more in seven matches at Al-Nassr this season, after helping the Saudi club reclaim the Pro League title. On the league he now plays in, he told AS that people “see the Saudi league as slightly less valuable than it really is.”

The 100 selected journalists must submit their ballots to France Football by 28 September. The 2026 winner will be named at the London Palladium on 26 October, the first time the ceremony has left Paris.

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