Harry Kane Wins 2026 Ballon d'Or as Voting Reveals Major Surprises
Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or with a record 40 first-place votes, but detailed voting results revealed surprising omissions by international journalists, including snubs from Mexico and Ivory Coast.
Harry Kane claimed the 2026 Ballon d'Or, yet the detailed voting breakdown published by France Football revealed astonishing omissions by several international journalists. While Kane secured 40 first-place votes—more than any other contender—representatives from Mexico and Ivory Coast left the Bayern Munich striker out of their top tens entirely.
Kylian Mbappe finished second overall with 23 first-place votes, but was similarly snubbed by journalists from Greece, Scotland, and Ukraine. Lamine Yamal took third place with 13 first-place votes, yet failed to secure a spot on the ballots of Belarus, Cameroon, Croatia, and Greece. The Israeli representative ranked Kane as the world's best player, joining peers from England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Sweden, and Norway in placing the English forward at the top of their lists.
Lamine Yamal emerged as the preferred choice for 13 nations, including Albania, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Honduras, Jordan, North Macedonia, Mexico, Wales, Portugal, Switzerland, Tunisia, and Turkey. Meanwhile, Rodri finished fourth overall and topped the ballots in 10 countries, such as Nigeria, the United States, Guatemala, South Korea, the Czechia, Serbia, Thailand, Vietnam, Croatia, and Iceland. Fabian Ruiz, despite finishing tenth overall, captured the number one spot in four countries: Gabon, Peru, Syria, and Ukraine.
Lionel Messi secured fifth place globally, retaining the top spot in six countries including Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, and China. Ousmane Dembele finished seventh without receiving a single first-place vote, though seven nations placed him second. Erling Haaland also failed to secure a first-place vote, with journalists from Croatia, Northern Ireland, and Norway ranking him second.
