Erling Braut Haaland is only in 3rd place on GMS’s “Power Ballon d’Or” list

It doesn’t feel that long ago that fans celebrated Ousmane Dembélé’s Ballon d’Or victory in 2025, but football moves faster than the speed of light, and attention has already turned to who can win next year’s Ballon d’Or – which is awarded to the world’s best player for the 2025/26 season.

Will Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo make a shocking return to football’s pedestal? In a World Cup year, almost anything is possible, but it is safer to bet on star players who represent one of the favorites to win next year’s main prize.

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At the same time, clubs such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain – all of whom have started the season in brilliant form – will have players in the competition to lift the Ballon d’Or, where league and Champions League winners traditionally have great influence during the ceremony.

In the past, the prestigious individual award was based on footballers’ performances during a calendar year. However, it is now for the fourth time in the history of the award that the votes are based on the season’s results. With that in mind, we’ve listed and ranked the top 20 players to win the Ballon d’Or in 2026, based on their respective teams’ chances of success as well as their current form.

Ranking factors
We have determined the order based on the following:

• Goals Scored
• Assist
• Kept a clean sheet (for defenders)
• Won/challenged for trophies (expected to)
• Big moments in the 2025/26 season
• General form

10. Vitinha
Paris Saint-Germain & Portugal
“Vitinha, the best midfielder in the world, he will be the next Ballon d’Or winner for me.” This was Thomas Frank’s assessment of the Portuguese midfielder after Tottenham were beaten 5-3 by Paris Saint-Germain on November 26. Vitinha scored a hat-trick in the Champions League match to further reinforce his status as one of the world’s best midfielders at the moment.

The 25-year-old finished third in the voting for the 2025 Ballon d’Or after winning the Champions League and UEFA Nations League earlier this year. But whether he can top the podium in 2026 will completely depend on how Portugal perform at the World Cup next summer.

Vitinha for PSG in 2025/26

• Matches: 18
• Goals: 5
• Assists: 8

9. Cristiano Ronaldo
Al-Nassr & Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo would absolutely love to become the oldest footballer ever to win the Ballon d’Or. He will be 41 years old when the 2026 Ballon d’Or award is handed out, and he could be a leading candidate if Portugal win their first-ever World Cup next summer.

Ronaldo remains one of the world’s best goalscorers, and his mentality is arguably still the best in the business. He still scores incredible overhead goals at 40, and it feels like Cristiano could play for another five years. Only he himself will decide when his glittering, long career is over.

Cristiano Ronaldo for Al-Nassr in 2025/26

• Appearances: 12
• Goals: 11
• Assists: 2

8. Luis Diaz
Bayern Munich & Colombia
Liverpool’s decision to let Luis Diaz leave Anfield for Bayern Munich is looking more and more suspicious by the week. Arne Slot can argue that the Colombian winger wanted to leave the club this summer, and that a sale therefore made sense for all parties, but the Reds have missed him in the first weeks of the 2025/26 season.

Liverpool’s loss has been Bayern’s gain. In his first 16 games this season, Diaz had already contributed 10 goals (including two against PSG at the Parc des Princes) and five assists. Bayern will be serious contenders for both the Bundesliga and the Champions League this season. The only thing that could hurt his Ballon d’Or chances is that Colombia is unlikely to win the World Cup next summer.

Luis Diaz for Bayern Munich in 2025/26

• Matches: 18
• Goals: 11
• Assists: 5

7. Lionel Messi
Inter Miami & Argentina
Could Lionel Messi really win a record-breaking ninth Ballon d’Or in 2026? If Argentina win the World Cup again next summer, there is a chance that just that could happen.

Messi, despite now being 38 years old, remains a genius capable of moments no other footballer can produce. While he may have lost some sharpness in recent years, his level of performance with Inter Miami and Argentina remains exceptionally high. Be sure of this: Messi will be one of the best players competing in the 2026 World Cup, and one should not bet on him cementing his status as the greatest player of all time.

Lionel Messi for Inter Miami in 2025

• Matches: 47
• Goals: 43
• Assists: 23

6. Declan Rice
: Arsenal & England
: Is there a better all-in-all midfielder or standard expert in world football at the moment? Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo comes close, but the Arsenal and England star has been outstanding in the first weeks of the 2025/26 season. No one is questioning the alleged transfer fee of £100 million now, two years after his controversial transfer from West Ham.

If Rice inspires Arsenal to their first Premier League title since 2004, and then helps England go far in the 2026 World Cup, it is not out of reach that he will be on the Ballon d’Or podium in 2026. Of course, there is a very long way to go, but right now he is playing like a man obsessed.

Declan Rice for Arsenal in 2025/26

• Matches: 18
• Goals: 2
• Assists: 6

5. Pedri
Barcelona & Spain
They may have been searching for years, but Barcelona may have finally found their long-term successor to Andres Iniesta. Since being bought from Las Palmas back in 2019, Pedri has emerged as the next big talent in Spain, and when you see the impact he is already having on his team, you understand why the hype is justified. Manager Hansi Flick recently claimed that he cannot be compared to anyone else in his position at the moment.

His silky smooth skills and progressive passing play make him feel like a La Masia product, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that he is not only the future of Barcelona’s midfield, but also of Spain under Luis de la Fuente. Considered one of the world’s best midfielders at the moment, his absurd quality in midfield will only get better as he is still only 22 years old.

Pedri for Barcelona in 2025/26

• Appearances: 13
• Goals: 2
• Assists: 2

4. Lamine Yamal
Barcelona & Spain
There has never been a teenage winner of the Ballon d’Or before. It is noteworthy that Lamine Yamal still has a couple of years left to achieve this feat. If he continues his incredible upward trajectory, all bets are turned off if he can really make it. His current form, combined with his superstar status, makes him something of a sure winner in the years to come – but could he do it in 2026?

Having carried one of the biggest clubs in Europe on his back since the age of 15, and helping his country to a European Championship as a 16-year-old, Yamal is clearly a fearless person who embodies the phrase “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.” He has already broken several records, but could this one potentially be his finest? His manager, Hansi Flick, believes there is only one better player in world football at the moment, and many spectators have quickly questioned whether Lionel Messi was ever as good as Yamal was in his youth.

Lamine Yamal for Barcelona in 2025/26

• Appearances: 13
• Goals: 6
• Assists: 8

3. Erling Haaland
Manchester City & Norway
By the standards Erling Haaland set in his first season at Manchester City, his subsequent seasons, on the surface, may have seemed a little disappointing – even though he still won the Premier League Golden Boot in one of the next two seasons. However, he has come flying out of the starting blocks this season, and few players have started as dominant as him.

Key stats: Haaland had already scored 21 goals for club and country this season by October 12: 12 in nine games for Man City, and nine in three games for Norway.

In a world where robots are a real thing, Haaland proves that he might just be walking hardware himself. The way he bulldozed his way through both Arsenal and Manchester United to record three goals in those important games was a statement of intent from the great Viking, and with Guardiola’s side settling in after a transition period, the rest of the continent should be worried.

Erling Haaland for Man City in 2025/26

• Appearances: 17
• Goals: 19
• Assists: 1

2. Harry Kane
Bayern Munich & England
Harry Kane is modern football’s answer to Wayne Rooney. Yes, he will certainly score 20 goals per season, but he will also have double-digit assists and spend about 30% of his time playing as a defensive midfielder just to find that extra room to work his magic. The England captain became his nation’s top scorer in 2023, as well as finishing second on the all-time Premier League goals list after scoring an incredible 213 goals for Tottenham.

Key stats: With only 104 games to do so, Harry Kane became the fastest player this century to reach 100 goals for a club playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

His move to Bayern Munich has so far been a roaring success, as he managed to win the first trophy of his career in the form of the Bundesliga. After the first 18 games of the 2025/26 season, he had already found the back of the net 24 times, as well as providing three more assists for teammates – back that up with a World Cup and/or Champions League triumph and he could become England’s first Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen’s 2001 victory.

Harry Kane for Bayern Munich in 2025/26

• Matches: 18
• Goals: 24
• Assists: 3

1. Kylian Mbappé,
Real Madrid & France
It feels like an inevitability that Kylian Mbappé will at some point in his career stand on top of the podium and lift the famous Golden Ball. The French striker has been touted as a future successor to Messi and Ronaldo – but now, in his mid-20s, he is getting closer to cementing his status as the world’s best footballer with an absurd number of goals to his name season after season.

Mbappé, who scored 256 times for Paris Saint-Germain in 305 appearances, took a few months to get started at Real Madrid after joining in the summer. But after winning the European Golden Boot last season with 31 goals in 34 La Liga games, and having already managed to record 18 goals in 17 appearances across all competitions this season, the Frenchman is storming his way to the top. With France and Los Blancos, he has every reason to believe that he can win it all in 2026.

Kylian Mbappé for Real Madrid in 2025/26

• Appearances: 17
• Goals: 18
• Assists: 3

Ballon d’Or Power Rankings: Full Top 20

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