The winner has already been chosen. The deadline for voting has passed, and the result stays secret until Monday's ceremony in London. Yet the campaigning has not stopped, and in a World Cup year it has been louder than ever.
Ousmane Dembele had barely sat back down with last year's trophy when the noise for 2026 began. Managers talked up their players, sporting directors questioned who missed the 30-man list, and the players themselves joined in. "The Ballon d'Or has been discussed every single day," said Guillem Balague on BBC Sport's Euro Leagues podcast.
Who said what
Barcelona's Deco called it a "huge scandal" that Raphinha and Pedri missed the shortlist, and backed Lamine Yamal as overwhelming favourite. Yamal himself said he will not "beg for anything". Paris St-Germain boss Luis Enrique said he was "bored of the Ballon d'Or", though with a record ten PSG players on the list he can hardly avoid it. Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia talked each other up to BBC Sport, and a 'Kvara d'Or' campaign ran in Georgia.
Kylian Mbappe was less subtle. "I always think I'm the best but everyone has their own opinion," he said. "Of course, this year could be good for me to win the Ballon d'Or - but journalists vote." Jean-Pierre Papin, who won in 1991, was unimpressed: "there comes a point when it's all about me, me, me and me." Bayern's Max Eberl, who backed Harry Kane and Michael Olise, said the best players "are the ones who don't need to run a campaign".
Why the lobbying works
Since national-team captains and managers stopped voting in 2015, the shortlist drawn up by France Football and L'Equipe has been voted on by one journalist from each of the top 100 Fifa-ranked nations. Brand strategist James Kirkham, who has worked with Kane, says the build-up has an election feel: you canvass, and you shore up blocks of countries.
Social media sharpens it. Kirkham says a single word on a broadcast can now be replayed, reacted to and turned into a narrative across every platform, and calls the social noise "deafening, relentless, all-consuming". Former AC Milan executive Ariedo Braida agrees that "media exposure is absolutely crucial" these days.
What a win is worth
The prize matters to clubs as well. Braida says Milan signed Kaka for around 7.5m euros and sold him to Real Madrid for 67m after his 2007 win, and in 2008 Manchester City made a written offer of 105m euros. Michael Owen, the last Englishman to win, in 2001, did not even know what the trophy was when Gerard Houllier rang to tell him.
Kane, hoping to become the first English winner in 25 years and only the fifth of all time, would also be Bayern's first since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. The ceremony in London marks 70 years since Stanley Matthews won the first prize. "It would be a massive achievement if it did happen," Kane said on Wednesday. Whoever is named on Monday, the campaign itself has already turned a football award into an election.
Background: Dembele won the 2025 Ballon d'Or and is one of ten PSG players on this year's 30-man shortlist. The 2026 ceremony takes place in London on Monday. Sources: BBC Sport, Sky Sports.
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