Ballon d’Or chief reveals Mbappe nearly won 2026 award

Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, has revealed that Kylian Mbappé led the voting for much of the 2026 Ballon d’Or race before Harry Kane mounted a late challenge to claim football’s most prestigious individual award.

Garcia said the contest between the Real Madrid forward and Bayern Munich striker was decided by an exceptionally narrow margin, with Kane eventually overtaking Mbappé to secure the prize.

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Kane was crowned at the London Palladium on Monday night after a remarkable season in which he scored 73 goals for the club and country, becoming the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001.

The 33-year-old helped Bayern win the Bundesliga title and complete a domestic double while also impressing in the UEFA Champions League and at the FIFA World Cup. His scoring record proved decisive in a fiercely contested race that also featured Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal.

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Speaking after the ceremony, Garcia said the margin between Kane and Mbappé was smaller than the 41-point difference between Rodri and Vinícius Júnior in the 2024 voting.

“I was watching the results in real time during the month of the vote. Kylian led the race for a long time, but Harry Kane came back into contention, and in the end, it was decided by a very, very small number of points,” Garcia said.

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He described the contest between the two forwards as exceptionally close, adding that Mbappé had produced an extraordinary season despite finishing second.

Spain’s votes split between Rodri and Yamal

Garcia also explained why Spain’s 2026 World Cup success did not translate into a Ballon d’Or win for one of its leading players.

He suggested that votes were divided between Rodri and Yamal, weakening the chances of either player finishing ahead of Kane.

“In the Spanish team that won the 2026 World Cup, there was a vote split between Rodri and Lamine Yamal. I believe Rodri took votes away from Lamine,” Garcia said.

He added that Spain’s World Cup success was built on collective strength, making it difficult for voters to single out one player as the clear standout.

“Spain stood out above all as a collective unit, making it difficult for voters to single out one individual,” he said.

Garcia criticises PSG’s Ballon d’Or campaign

Garcia also questioned Paris Saint-Germain’s strategy for promoting its players in the Ballon d’Or race, arguing that the Champions League winners should have concentrated their support on one candidate.

Despite PSG’s European success, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia finished sixth, Ousmane Dembélé seventh and Fabián Ruiz tenth.

“I think PSG’s communication was not entirely clear, first trying to promote three players and then two. I think they should have supported a single candidate, and that should have been Ousmane Dembélé,” Garcia said.

His comments highlighted the difficulty of converting team success into individual recognition when several players from the same club are competing for votes.

Although Mbappé led the Ballon d’Or race for much of the voting period, Kane’s eventual victory underlined how a late shift in support can decide one of football’s most closely watched individual awards.