7 leading stars who can use the 2026 World Cup to win this year’s Ballon d’Or
Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Fabio Cannavaro, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane… In World Cup years, having a great tournament has traditionally had a major bearing on Ballon d’Or voting.
There’s a good chance that tradition will continue in 2026, with star names from England, France and Spain among the favourites for France Football’s prestigious Golden Ball award this year.
Here are seven players who could stake a major claim for the 2026 Ballon d’Or if they perform to their full potential out in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Harry Kane
If there was no World Cup this year, you’d have to say Kane would have one hand on the prize.
He didn’t win the Champions League, but he’s quite clearly been on another level compared to almost everyone else in world football over the past 12 months or so.
Sixty-one(!) goals in just 51 appearances across all competitions for Bayern Munich in 2025-26 is a testament to that. And it’s for that reason that England are among the favourites this summer.
Thomas Tuchel is blessed with quality options throughout the squad, although there are some question marks over form elsewhere.
If the England captain can maintain his Bayern form and help bring it home, we’ll surely see a first English Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen a quarter of a century ago.
Kylian Mbappe
Mbappe’s reputation has taken a bit of a battering these last two years.
In his absence, PSG have made the step-up to become the superteam they never were with him in it. Meanwhile, Real Madrid have gone two years without any silverware and have started to resemble the old dysfunctional PSG that paid the price of being too indulgent of superstar egos.
How much of that is purely coincidental, or down to Mbappe, is a matter of debate.
France’s captain and all-time top goalscorer can silence his doubters, and show that he can fit into a genuinely top-level, at the World Cup. He’ll have to do something outrageously good – think Messi last time out – in North America, but we know he’s capable of that.
Mbappe was a rising star but not a senior superstar when he won it in 2018. His team-mate Antoine Griezmann beat him to the podium that summer, while Champions League winners Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo claimed first and second respectively.
He surely would’ve won it ahead of Messi in 2023 if the penalty shootout in Qatar had gone the other way. As it was, he had to settle for third after scoring a hat-trick in the final.
Ousmane Dembele
Since the legendary Marco van Basten did it over 30 years ago, only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have retained the Ballon d’Or in the modern era.
We’ve loved watching Dembele become the world-beater he always threatened he could be. But with all due respect, he has no place among those iconic names.
Still, after coming up with some decisive contributions for PSG as they retained the Champions League, he has every chance.
If he can help lead France to World Cup glory – and not get outshone by a certain team-mate – then we could easily see Dembele go back-to-back. Who saw that coming two years ago?
Lamine Yamal
Yamal finished runner-up last year – and that was only after winning domestic honours with Barcelona.
The teenager’s remarkable rise has seen him earn superstar, headline-dominating status already. And that’s probably fair enough.
Spain are the favourites for the World Cup, coming into the tournament on the ascendancy as European champions… Just as they did in 2010.
Unlike that era-defining 2010 La Roja side, this one has one clear superstar. That wasn’t quite the case after South Africa, after the likes of Xavi and Iniesta split the vote and ended up behind their Barcelona team-mate Messi on the Ballon d’Or podium.
Vinicius Junior
It was only as recently as 1995 that the Ballon d’Or began allowing non-European winners.
But in that relatively short period, there’s a rich history of Brazilians getting their hands on the award. Ronaldo Nazario’s 2002 success remains the gold standard for Brazilian winners – lifted on the back of standing tall on the biggest stage of all.
It’s almost 20 years since we’ve seen a winner from the great football-obsessed nation, a period during which Neymar moved to PSG in pursuit of the award and Vinicius Junior threw an almighty strop over being overlooked.
Vini has struggled to match Neymar on the international stage, but he has a chance to eclipse Ney’s legacy after vowing “I’ll do it 10x if I have to. They’re not ready,” following his 2024 Ballon d’Or snub.
A (half-crocked?) Neymar will be there, and there are other stars for the Selecao, but relying on Vinicius Junior as the main man to step up in high-pressure do-or-die games has worked out alright for him before.
Lionel Messi
Wildcard #1.
Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or thanks to his last World Cup. Could he make it nine?
Almost certainly not. It’s been four years and a Maradona-esque individual tournament like he produced out in Qatar is surely beyond even him in a summer in which he turns 39.
But never say never. He was exceptional in 2025 and has looked just as bright in the past few weeks.
No player who has spent the entirety of the eligibility period playing outside Europe’s top leagues has even been nominated for the Ballon d’Or since a young Neymar in 2011. But the thought of one last dance is irresistible.
Erling Haaland
Wildcard #2.
Haaland’s hopes of a first Ballon d’Or probably died following Manchester City’s failure to land the Premier League or Champions League.
But he was the top scorer in World Cup qualifying as Norway booked their first World Cup this century. When his nation made their last appearance at the finals (France ’98), he hadn’t even been born yet.
If he can do something truly extraordinary and fire Norway to an all-time unforgettable underdog run – think Modric’s Croatia and getting to the final in 2018 – then he might just re-enter the conversation.
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