Ballon d’Or 2026 Power Rankings: Lamine Yamal poised for 29-year first as Harry Kane and Arsenal star remain in the mix

The race is officially on to see who will succeed Ousmane Dembele as the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner.

Dembele took out football’s top individual gong for 2025 thanks to a season in which he fired Pairs Saint-Germain to a Ligue 1 title but, more importantly, a maiden Champions League crown.

Teenage talent Lamine Yamal finished one place behind Dembele in the rankings and is already one of the favourites for the award next year.

Harry Kane, thanks to his record breaking feats in Germany, will also be high up. The striker is the fastest player to score 100 goals for a major European club, beating Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo.

So, who else is among the contenders to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or?

Here, talkSPORT.com keeps an eye on those who are expected to figure in the conversation for the coveted prize in 2026 via our Ballon d’Or power rankings.

2025 Ballon d'Or Rankings

1. Ousmane Dembele
2. Lamine Yamal
3. Vitinha
4. Mohamed Salah
5. Raphinha
6. Achraf Hakimi
7. Kylian Mbappe
8. Cole Palmer
9. Gianluigi Donnarumma
10. Nuno Mendes
11. Pedri
12. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
13. Harry Kane
14. Desire Doue
15. Viktor Gyokeres
16. Vinicius Jr
17. Robert Lewandowski
18. Scott McTominay
19. Joao Neves
20. Lautaro Martinez
21. Serhou Guirassy
22. Alexis Mac Allister
23. Jude Bellingham
24. Fabian Ruiz
25. Denzel Dumfries
26. Erling Haaland
27. Declan Rice
28. Virgil van Dijk
29. Florian Wirtz
30. Erling Haaland

The rankings are collated based on a player’s odds, provided by talkSPORT Bet, for the 2026 Ballon d’Or.

9th – Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 20/1

Michael Olise has been a player transformed under the tutelage of Bayern boss Vincent Kompany.

This season, the former Crystal Palace winger has chalked up an impressive 18 goal contributions in 20 games, registering nine goals and nine assists.

The 23-year-old leads the Bundesliga in the assists charts with six, proving he has more than handled the step up in competition since he departed Selhurst Park for £50million in 2024.

Operating on the right flank and boasting a wicked left foot, Olise may very well be the reincarnation of Arjen Robben at the Allianz Arena with how easily he burns past his marker when cutting inside.

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His importance for Bayern is evident, but if Olise can transfer his club form onto the international stage for France at next year’s World Cup, he may very well be the toast of football.

= 8th – Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 16/1

Lionel Messi may be in the twilight of his career, but don’t think there’s no magic left in the diminutive superstar.

Messi recently chalked up his 1,300th goal contribution in Inter Miami’s win over FC Cincinnati in the MLS Cup play-offs as he had a hand in all four of the Floridians’ goals.

The World Cup winner is now just one victory away from leading Miami to its first MLS Cup and if he can do that, it would be yet another feather in his cap.

To date, Messi has scored a whopping 43 goals and provided 24 assists in 48 matches for Miami this season.

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Whether his feats in a league like MLS would be enough to make a serious dent in the Ballon d’Or conversation remains to be seen.

But, if he can guide Miami to silverware and enjoy what looks to be a successful last dance with Argentina at next year’s World Cup, who’s to say Messi can’t collect a ninth Ballon d’Or?

= 8th – Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 16/1

Well, if Tottenham boss Thomas Frank believes Vitinha is in with a shout of winning the Ballon d’Or, who are we to disagree.

Following Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-3 win over Spurs, in which Vitinha bagged a hat-trick, Frank said: “By the way, Vitinha, best midfielder in the world, he’ll be the next Ballon d’Or winner for me.”

The former Wolves star is living up to the potential he knew he had as his displays in PSG’s midfield continue to get the recognition they deserve.

Whether it’s his metronomic ability to keep possession ticking over, intervening at the crucial hour or chipping in vital goals, Vitinha has grown into one of the most dependable midfielders in football.

6th – Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 14/1

Dembele was understandably emotional after he claimed the Ballon d’Or as he became the second Frenchman in the last four years to have won the award.

Now, he has the chance to become the first player not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to win back-to-back Ballons d’Or since Marco van Basten, who accomplished the feat in 1988 and 1989.

The 28-year-old began the season brightly with five goal contributions in six games across all competitions.

However, his season was disrupted when he suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty with France.

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Since his return in October, Dembele has scored just one goal from seven games.

Although the winger may be short of a gallop at the moment, the fact he is the reigning Ballon d’Or winner serves as a reminder of his devastating brilliance in the final third.

5th – Declan Rice (Arsenal)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 10/1

Although Vitinha may be the flavour of the month when it comes to midfielders in the Ballon d’Or conversation, Declan Rice won’t go quietly into the night.

Granted, the Arsenal man’s goal contributions may not be as plentiful as his Portuguese counterpart.

But Rice’s game isn’t solely based on goals and assists.

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Instead, he is as all-round as they come.

Rice sits ahead of all his Arsenal teammates in terms of possession won in the league having done so 53 times.

The England international also has made the second-most tackles among the Gunners (24), with only Jurrien Timber making more.

If Rice manages to mix in some more goals and assists, which he may do given he is often on set-piece duties, there’s no denying he will be in with a shout of football’s greatest individual honour.

4th – Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 6/1

If the Ballon d’Or was decided purely on goals scored in a season, Erling Haaland would be in contention for the award every year.

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Since the Norwegian marksman joined Manchester City in the summer of 2022, he has scored a staggering 144 goals in 165 appearances across all competitions.

In fact, only Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe have scored more league goals than Haaland since the 2022/23 season.

He has won the Premier League’s golden boot in two of the three campaigns he has been at City and given he’s four goals ahead in the race for this season, you’d be silly to claim Haaland won’t add a third to his collection.

To add another feather in the Norwegian’s cap, he became the latest member of the Premier League’s 100 club.

However, Haaland’s Ballon d’Or hopes will likely hinge on City’s success in cup competitions and the Premier League.

City went into this season on the back of their first trophyless campaign since 2017.

Two of those in succession would surely kill off any hope Haaland had of a maiden Ballon d’Or.

3rd – Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 4/1

Despite a season in which he scored 41 goals across all competitions and won his maiden Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich striker Kane finished 13th in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings.

But in a World Cup year, it is almost perfect timing for Kane to skyrocket up the leaderboard.

A talismanic figure for England, Kane would have a ridiculously strong case for the Ballon d’Or if he can enjoy a similar goalscoring season fro Bayern and lead the Three Lions to a deep run at next year’s World Cup.

Kane has eight goals from 11 World Cup matches, so there’s a high expectation to continue the scoring trend in 2026.

Over in Bavaria, Kane is more than living up to his billing as one of football’s best goalscorers having netted 24 times in 20 matches for Bayern this term.

If he can continue to break records, like he already has done this season, then Kane has every reason to be a favourite for next year’s Ballon d’Or.

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= 1st – Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

talkSPORT BET Odds: 11/4

Kylian Mbappe once finished as high as third in the Ballon d’Or rankings in 2023, but hasn’t quite hit those same heights since.

But a change in the dugout at Real Madrid, with Xabi Alonso replacing Carlo Ancelotti, Mbappe has become a man transformed.

After 19 games across all competitions, Mbappe has netted an impressive 23 goals, with 14 of those coming in as many LaLiga fixtures.

To compare, it took Mbappe 21 league fixtures last season to reach that number of goals.

Similarly to a large number of fellow Ballon d’Or rivals, Mbappe’s hopes for a maiden crown may hinge on not just Real Madrid’s trophy haul this season but France’s journey at the World Cup.

He’s already inspired Les Bleus to a world championship in 2018 and a run to the final in 2022, so expect Mbappe to have a big say in how the 2026 iteration of the tournament unfolds, especially since he has 12 goals in 14 appearances at football’s biggest show.

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= 1st – Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

talkSPORT BET odds: 11/4

Aged 17 years and 53 days, Lamine Yamal broke the record for the youngest player to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or.

Although he didn’t win, the fact the Spaniard finished second in the voting is clear enough of a sign a Ballon d’Or in his trophy cabinet is almost a matter of when, not if.

The teenage sensation is not shy of his aims either, stating he doesn’t dream of winning just one Ballon d’Or, ‘I dream of many.’

Having fired Spain to glory at Euro 2024, where he registered a tournament-leading four assists and was named the best young player, Yamal will be targeting similar success at next year’s World Cup with La Roja.

Regardless of how Spain fares in North America next year, time is on Yamal’s side to create history as the youngest-ever Ballon d’Or winner, a record which belongs to Ronaldo who win it in 1997 aged 21 years, three months and five days.

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