Ballon d’Or 2026: Who should win? Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe compared

The winner of football's most prestigious individual award will be revealed on Monday, with the Ballon d'Or ceremony set to take place in London.

Unlike in many previous iterations, the Ballon d'Or is now a seasonal rather than yearly award, meaning the best player across 2025-26 is – in theory – supposed to claim the trophy.

There are a number of possible candidates with strong arguments that they were the best player in the world for that season, including Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane.

The Englishman enjoyed a remarkable campaign for club and country, and many view him as the early favourite.

However, Barcelona's Lamine Yamal won the World Cup with Spain, and he also played exceptionally well at club level.

Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe's greatness has a times been taken for granted, and it is surprising that he has not yet won the award.

Here, FootballWhispers takes a look whether Kane, Yamal or Mbappe should win the Ballon d'Or.

Harry Kane vs Lamine Yamal vs Kylian Mbappe: Who should win the Ballon d'Or?

In terms of raw numbers, there can be no doubt that Kane stands out in front, with the 33-year-old having netted 36 times for Bayern in the Bundesliga in 2025-26.

Yamal netted a respectable 16 times in La Liga, while Mbappe managed to find the back of the net 25 times in the Spanish top flight for Real Madrid.

Kane provided five assists in the league, the same number as Mbappe, but their tallies fall far short of Yamal, who assisted 11 goals for Barca in La Liga.

Creativity is hard to capture in stats, with much depending on what teammates do with the ball, though it is notable that the Barcelona star produced more big chances (24) than both Kane (17) and Mbappe (eight).

Mbappe attempted significantly more dribbles (149) than Bayern's talisman (51), but both were some way off Yamal's figure of 243.

In all competitions, the Real star netted 42 goals and produced six assists, whereas Yamal scored 24 goals and registered 17 assists.

Kane played 51 times for Bayern in 2025-26, and the Englishman scored 61 goals and created a further seven goals.

It is ultimately difficult to overlook the historic production of Kane, and while any of the three players would be deserving of the award, perhaps the Bayern striker should be named the winner of the Ballon d'or.