Kylian Mbappe waded into the controversy
Kylian Mbappe AFP

With the 2026 World Cup now complete, attention across the soccer world is shifting toward the Ballon d'Or, the sport's most prestigious individual honor, as a crowded field of contenders emerges from a tournament that reshaped several players' legacies over the past month.

Spain lifted the World Cup trophy Sunday with an extra-time victory over Lionel Messi's Argentina in the final at what is now known as New York New Jersey Stadium, capping what organizers have called the largest World Cup in history. With the tournament finished, Europe's biggest leagues will now turn toward preseason, with most competitions set to resume in August and September for campaigns running through the following May. Before that shift in focus takes hold, though, the soccer world is turning its attention to who will be recognized as the year's best player.

The Ballon d'Or is awarded annually to the top individual performer in the sport, determined by a vote among an international panel of soccer journalists. This year's award covers the period from Aug. 1, 2025, through the end of July 2026, meaning voters will weigh an entire club season alongside performances at the World Cup itself, a combination that has produced an unusually deep and competitive shortlist.

Messi remains the most decorated player in the award's history, having won it a record eight times, and is expected to feature prominently in this year's conversation. But two other players have emerged as the tournament's clearest frontrunners: Spain's Lamine Yamal and England's Harry Kane, both of whom delivered standout performances across their club and international commitments this year.

Harry Kane's historic season

Kane finished as the Bundesliga's leading scorer this season with Bayern Munich, tallying 36 goals in 31 league appearances, numbers that further cemented his status as England's greatest player. Although England's World Cup campaign did not end the way Kane had hoped, his combination of club dominance and continued international contributions have made the 32-year-old a serious candidate to become England's first Ballon d'Or winner since Michael Owen claimed the award in 2001.

Lamine Yamal's rapid rise

Yamal, who was crowned a world champion just days after turning 19, also produced his most productive club season to date, recording 16 goals and 11 assists in 28 La Liga appearances while helping FC Barcelona win the league title. Yamal finished as the runner-up for the award last year, and a late-season injury ahead of the World Cup cost him roughly a month of playing time and slowed his start to the tournament before he rounded into form.

Mbappe's record-breaking tournament

Kylian Mbappe enters the conversation as the World Cup's new all-time leading scorer, following a tournament performance that included 10 goals and a second consecutive Golden Boot award. Despite an outstanding individual year, Mbappe's club season with Real Madrid was turbulent, and unlike the players above him, he has no team trophy from this tournament to show for his individual brilliance after finishing outside the medal positions.

Rodri, Dembele and Messi round out the field

Rodri, the reigning 2024 Ballon d'Or winner, captained Spain to the World Cup title but played only 21 Premier League games this season for Manchester City as he continued recovering from a serious ACL injury, a workload that makes him unlikely to repeat as champion despite his role in Spain's triumph.

Ousmane Dembele, last year's Ballon d'Or winner, saw his production dip amid injuries during the club season, finishing with 10 goals in 22 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain. He nonetheless helped PSG win the Champions League for a second consecutive year and delivered six goals at the World Cup, including a hat trick, keeping him firmly in contention to defend his title.

Messi, for his part, led Inter Miami to its first Major League Soccer Cup championship and won the league's Golden Boot for the 2025 season before adding eight more goals at the World Cup. However, Argentina's failure to defend its 2022 title, combined with Mbappe surpassing him as the tournament's all-time leading scorer, means Messi will not close out his World Cup career with that particular record intact.

A long history of Ballon d'Or dominance

The 2026 race adds another chapter to an award that has been dominated in recent decades by a small handful of generational talents. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have combined to win 13 of the last 18 Ballon d'Or awards, though the last two years have seen the honor pass to a new generation of players in Rodri and Dembele, suggesting voters may be increasingly willing to look beyond the sport's longtime leading figures.

The award was not presented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and past winners span some of the sport's most recognizable names, including Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Kaka, Fabio Cannavaro and Ronaldinho, each of whom captured the honor during a career-defining year.

With the World Cup now decided and Spain's triumph fresh in voters' minds, the coming months are expected to bring extensive debate over how to weigh a talented teenager's breakout tournament against the more traditional résumé of an established veteran striker, or the impact of leading a team to a World Cup title against individual statistical dominance. The formal announcement of this year's winner is expected later in the year, following the conclusion of the voting period at the end of July.