2026 Ballon d’Or Power Rankings: Haaland, Mbappe, Kane rising…

The World Cup will have a big bearing on who lifts the Ballon d’Or later this year – but who are the leading contenders as the tournament ticks on?

Big-name players from Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are among the leading contenders after the dust has settled on the 2025-26 campaign season. But it still feels like a remarkably open race.

With that being said, here are our latest Ballon d’Or power rankings for 2026. Keep checking back as we’ll be keeping on top of all the runners and riders up until the award is handed out later this year.

10. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (=)

The Georgia star had a transformative effect on PSG when he joined from Napoli midway through last season for what looks like a bargain £59million. In his first full campaign in Paris, Kvaratskhelia has done as much as anyone to take Luis Enrique’s side to consecutive Champions League finals.

Indeed, with his assist for the crucial opener in Munich, Kvaratskhelia became the first player to record a goal contribution in seven consecutive Champions League knockout games.

Kvaratskhelia’s consistency is almost unmatched, and it helps that he’s as easy on the eye as he is efficient and ruthless. Just a wonderful winger to watch.

He wasn’t anywhere near his best against Arsenal, but it was ultimately his endeavour that won the all-important penalty. Big players produce big moments.

Kvaradona has tumbled down this list as attention turns to the World Cup in his absence.

9. Vinicius Junior (=)

Vini Jr endured a rubbish season, but he’s thriving after reuniting with Carlo Ancelotti.

He scored in every game of the group stage and while he failed to score against Japan, he looked in the mood and almost scored an all-time great solo goal. He appears to be loving life without Kylian Mbappe hogging the spotlight.

Brazil don’t look entirely convincing, but they do boast one of the stars of the tournament.

8. Lamine Yamal (=)

The Barcelona wonderkid finished runner-up last year despite notching considerably fewer goals and assists than Salah.

It does feel like there’s a degree of PR with Yamal’s runner-up finish, if you judge his season as a whole with a clear head.

And when it came to crunch time, Yamal has arguably hit new heights. You watch his most recent displays, before that injury, and can’t escape the feeling that he might just be the best footballer in the world, already, at the age of 18.

He was Barcelona’s best player in their La Liga title triumph and nearly inspired them to a famous comeback in Madrid. Had Fermin Lopez scored from his sublime trivela cross, who knows?

Yamal is probably now relying on an exceptional World Cup to stake a genuine claim. He’s just threatening to burst into life after coming back from injury, but has just one goal so far.

7. Vitinha (-1)

The best midfielder in the world right now. Surely?

You wonder if the Ballon d’Or voters might feel another key cog in Luis Enrique’s is more worthy of recognition this time around. He’d certainly be up there.

Two years in a row now, he’s completely bossed the biggest stage in club football. Arsenal had the lowest share of possession on record in a Champions League final, and his ability to dictate the game on PSG’s terms was a key reason why.

Vitinha hasn’t caught the eye in Portugal’s first four matches, and was hooked against Croatia, but he has the quality to shine in the latter rounds.

6. Lionel Messi (-1)

Surely the only semi-realistic contender from outside the European elite.

Planet Football received (warranted, to be fair) pelters for persevering with the eight-time winner in our 2024 power rankings.

We learned our lesson last year. Messi could score a hundred goals out in MLS, and it wouldn’t move the needle when it comes to the Ballon d’Or – rightly so, the award is recognition for those at the very top of the game.

But, in a tournament year… *Al Pacino voice* Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

You look at his outrageously good 2025, routinely making mincemeat of MLS defenders, and seven goals so far has us thinking it might just happen. A return to the shortlist is surely a given, at least.

Argentina will probably have to up their game if he’s get his hands on No.9.

5. Erling Haaland (+2)

We had the Norwegian as the frontrunner in the early months of the season, but that was when he was on track to break Messi’s most ridiculous goalscoring records.

Things have changed a bit since then, with Haaland hitting something of a wall. He has won yet another Premier League Golden Boot, and two domestic cups, but getting pipped to the title reduces him to also-ran status here.

At this point, he’d have to do something truly historic at the World Cup – tough to do with Norway.

Scoring seven goals, including two in a knockout win over Brazil, fits that criteria. He can continue rising in the quarter-final against England.

4. Michael Olise (=)

It feels ridiculously harsh having Olise this low, given how exceptionally he’s performed at the World Cup, but hear us out.

Olise reached Ballon d’Or-worthy levels in the spring. He was astonishingly good in Bayern’s run to the Champions League semi-finals, and we had him up in the top three – even briefly top! – after his devastating performances against Real Madrid.

He won a Bundesliga title and enjoyed a miles better 2025-26 campaign – 22 goals and 31 (!!!) assists in 52 appearances was a superb return – than his Les Bleus team-mate Kylian Mbappe.

Unfortunately, he’s being slightly overshadowed by one of his France team-mates on the biggest stage, while another won the Champions League.

Three of the top four contenders for the Ballon d’Or feature in Didier Deschamps’ arsenal. That’s absolutely ridiculous.

3. Ousmane Dembele (-1)

Only Messi and Ronaldo have retained the Ballon d’Or since Marco van Basten way back in the late ’80s. With all due respect to Dembele, he’s not at their level.

We had the holder as something of an afterthought for the first half of an underwhelming, injury-hit campaign. But Dembele has climbed with almost every update.

The current holder surely has as good a chance as anyone else. It was only a penalty, but he held his nerve against Arsenal in the Champions League final.

While he hasn’t been France’s best attacker, far from it, he is the only one with a hat-trick at this World Cup.

His European club season might just serve as a trump card if France go all the way, as long as he continues contributing healthily.

2. Kylian Mbappe (+1)

We had Mbappe in the lower reaches of this list throughout the 2025-26 season.

A second year without a trophy at Real Madrid, PSG continuing to thrive in his absence, question marks over whether an elite-level team can accommodate a player that does so little work off the ball.

All those questions remain legitimate, but we’re quickly forgetting about them with all the focus on the World Cup. Can you even remember what Fabio Cannavaro did with his club in 2006? Ronaldo in 2002? Messi in 2022? Exactly.

This is threatening to turn into ‘the Mbappe World Cup’. France’s whole attack is scintillating, but Mbappe is undoubtedly the star man with seven goals so far.

He will be 28 (at least) before he wins the Champions League, but maintain this form and fire Les Bleus to World Cup glory – which looks increasingly likely, given their route and form – and he might finally get his mitts on the Ballon d’Or.

Real Madrid woes soon forgotten?

1. Harry Kane (=)

If the Ballon d’Or was based purely on the 2025-26 club season, Kane would practically have this in the bag.

PSG winning the Champions League doesn’t change the fact that the England captain has, quite obviously, been the standout individual in European football over the past year.

Sixty-one(!) goals in all competitions is the most scored by any player since the ridiculous peak years of Messi and Ronaldo.

He’s been Bayern’s standout man and most important player, firing them to a domestic double, winning a second European Golden Shoe, and capping off his superb year in sensational style with a hat-trick in the DFB Pokal final.

Yes, the Champions League final was just out of reach. As an individual, Kane is out in front of any of the back-to-back European champions.

Now it’s all down to the World Cup, where his game-changing brace against DR Congo and Mexico penalty put him onto six goals for the tournament.

For now, as long as England are in it, we’re having him as the frontrunner. Just about.

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