Kane, Mbappé lead 30-man Ballon d'Or shortlist
JUST IN: Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal headline the 30-man shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or, football's most prestigious individual prize. The winner will be crowned in London on Oct. 26.
Messi is back on the Ballon d'Or shortlist for the first time since 2023.
The 30 names for football's biggest individual prize dropped today, and Harry Kane headlines it after a monster season for Bayern and England. He's there in this shot, doing what he does. Alongside him you've got Kylian Mbappé, fresh off a standout year at Real Madrid, and Barcelona's teenager Lamine Yamal, who says he won't beg anyone to hand him the trophy. Confidence is not a problem in that dressing room.
The winner gets crowned in London on October 26, which is a change of scenery for a ceremony that usually lives in Paris. So the race is on. A prolific Englishman, a French superstar, a Spanish prodigy, and an eight-time winner lurking in Miami.
Seven weeks until somebody's mantelpiece gets heavier.
This is Dave King, reporting for HIT.
Sources
This story was written by HIT from the reporting above. We publish our own copy, not theirs.
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