"Ballon d'Or"-2026. Who deserves the award?
On the night of October 27, the winner of the "Ballon d'Or" award based on the results of the past season will be announced. For the first time in history, the award ceremony will be held not in Paris, but at the "Palladium" theatre in London. The reason for this is the 70th anniversary of the award: in 1956, English footballer Stanley Matthews became the first winner of the "Ballon d'Or".
The ceremony will begin at 01:00 Tashkent time. It will be hosted by former French footballer Thierry Henry and TV presenter Kate Scott.
The organizers plan to hand out all the awards within two hours. Since 2024, the ceremony has been held in cooperation with "France Football" magazine and UEFA.
There are two leading contenders for the main award: "Bayern" forward Harry Kane and "Barcelona" winger Lamine Yamal. The English forward has incredible productivity stats, while the Spaniard has a World Cup victory.
Also, among those whose chances are rated relatively high, players such as Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Rodri can be mentioned.
European Golden Shoe winner, World Cup bronze medalist, Bundesliga champion and top scorer, German Cup and German Supercup winner
The 2025/26 season was the most productive in the English forward's career. Last season, he scored 61 goals in 51 official matches for "Bayern". He became the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 36 goals, claiming the European Golden Shoe for the second consecutive season.
Considering that there are relatively fewer games in the Bundesliga (34 rounds) and Harry did not participate in all matches (31), the significance of his result increases.
When adding the matches for the national team, his stats are even more impressive: 73 goals in 65 matches.
It is not just about the goals either. In recent seasons, Kane has turned into a deep-lying forward. Even in last week's match against "Arsenal", fans witnessed him initiating all the German team's attacks, even delivering the ball to the frontline right from the goalkeeper's position. It has become a difficult task for opposing defenders to predict what he is going to do.