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Ballon d'Or 2026: Harry Kane or Kylian Mbappé, who is the greater player?

21 October 2026 · Footballers

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The 2026 Ballon d'Or is handed out on Monday 26 October in London, the first time the ceremony has left Paris. The 30-man shortlist is long, but the conversation keeps coming back to two names: Harry Kane, the bookmakers' favourite after a season of more than 70 goals for Bayern Munich and England, and Kylian Mbappé, the most famous forward of his generation. Neither has ever won it. The box above shows how the world splits on them today, not for one season but for a whole career.

Kane's case is the case of a finisher who never stops. He became Tottenham's all-time top scorer and England's all-time top scorer, won the Premier League Golden Boot three times, and moved to Bayern Munich in 2023, where the goals kept coming in Germany and he finally won his first major trophy, the Bundesliga. What he does not have is a big international medal or a Champions League, and for years that was the line against him.

Mbappé's case starts with the biggest stage. At nineteen he won the 2018 World Cup with France and scored in the final. In the 2022 final he scored a hat-trick against Argentina and still lost on penalties. He became Paris Saint-Germain's all-time top scorer before joining Real Madrid in 2024, and in his first season in Spain he was La Liga's top scorer and won the European Golden Shoe.

History is not much help in picking between them. For more than a decade the trophy was shared by two men: Messi won it eight times and Cristiano Ronaldo five, and from 2008 to 2021 only Luka Modrić, in 2018, broke the run. Since then it has gone to Karim Benzema, Messi once more, Rodri, a holding midfielder, and Dembélé, a winger. A Kane win would make him the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001; Mbappé would be the third Frenchman in five editions.

They are not alone on the list. Ousmane Dembélé won the trophy last year with Paris Saint-Germain and is nominated again, with ten PSG players on the shortlist. Erling Haaland has the numbers and a World Cup with Norway behind him. Lamine Yamal, second in 2025, is still a teenager. And Lionel Messi, the eight-time winner, is back on the shortlist after two years away.

The trophy rewards a season; the vote here rewards everything. Pick Mbappé or Kane above, then try Kane against last year's winner Dembélé, and Haaland against Kane, or see where all of them stand in the Football Top 100, ranked by everyone.

Vote: Kylian Mbappé vs Harry Kane

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