Kylian Mbappé is not the favourite for the 2026 Ballon d’Or. That is why the microphone he chose matters.
The Real Madrid forward gave French international broadcaster RFI a long interview about his connection to Africa, thanking journalists on the continent, revisiting his father’s village in Cameroon and delivering the sentence his critics will underline as electioneering.
“I’ve always had an upbringing steeped in African culture. I have never cut ties with my roots or origins,” he told RFI, in remarks reported by Ghanaian outlet YEN.
“I hope to leave with the Ballon d’Or and, in one way or another, dedicate it to them.”
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Mbappé’s father Wilfrid is Cameroonian and his mother Fayza Lamari has Algerian heritage. In the same interview he said he had recently returned to his father’s village of Djebale in Cameroon, and that he had “always felt so loved” whenever he set foot on the continent.
Kane still leads the odds
The 30-man shortlist was announced on 8 September, and the ceremony at the London Palladium on 26 October is the first ever staged outside Paris.
Harry Kane, whose 61 goals in 51 appearances powered Bayern Munich to a domestic treble and won him the European Golden Shoe, heads the bookmakers’ list. Ousmane Dembélé is the defending champion.
Mbappé finished 2025/26 as top scorer in La Liga, the Champions League and the World Cup, but Real Madrid ended second in Spain, went out to Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals, and France lost their World Cup semi-final.
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The Ceuta shirt Mbappé hid
The Africa message lands a week after Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Ibrahima Konaté walked out at Elche’s Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero wearing solidarity t-shirts that read “Todos somos caballas”, or “we are all Ceutans”, rolled up to hide the text before kick-off.
Al Jazeera reported that the shirts referenced the more than 70,000 people who crossed into the Spanish enclave from Morocco in late July. A Popular Party spokesperson said she felt “deep shame” over the gesture, France 24 noted, while a Vox lawmaker described the three players as “three millionaires who live in Spain”.
Mbappé addressed the gesture publicly the following day.
“I also wanted to make a gesture and express my thoughts for all the immigrants who have lost their lives,” he said.
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Weah still stands alone
Only one African-born player has ever won the Ballon d’Or: George Weah, who lifted the trophy in 1995 while playing for AC Milan. TNT Sports puts it plainly: he “remains the first, last and only player from the continent there”.
African journalists account for around 20% of the Ballon d’Or electorate, Gulf News reports, a share that has not been decisive in the three decades since.
Ballots close before the London Palladium ceremony on 26 October.
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