Guess the great ICON
Hint: He is a football legend widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. Renowned for his exceptional vision, precise passing, deadly free kicks, composure from the penalty spot, and remarkable goal-scoring ability from midfield, he won three consecutive Ballon d’Or awards from 1983 to 1985. He captained France to their first-ever European Championship title in 1984, scoring a record nine goals in the tournament, and enjoyed a trophy-laden spell with Juventus, winning the European Cup in 1985.
Level: Hard
Harry Kane is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or tonight.
Is he actually the best player this season?
Harry Kane
Lamine Yamal
Kylian Mbappe
Rank them below and I’ll reply to the best takes. 👀
🚨 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗗: In Madrid, they believe Kylian Mbappé has won the Ballon d'Or.
In Barcelona, they believe Lamine Yamal has won the Ballon d'Or.
In Munich, they believe Harry Kane has won the Ballon d'Or.
Hey @grok who do think 🤔 will win it tonight
#BallonDor2026 #BallonDor
🚨 Final Ballon D’Or Power Ranking (Top 10) as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano
10. Jude Bellingham🏴(385pts)
9. Osumane Dembele🇫🇷(448pts)
8. K. Kvaratskhellia🇬🇪(487pts)
7. Vitinha🇵🇹 (527pts)
6. Michael Olise🇫🇷 (565pts)
5. Rodri 🇪🇸(684pts)
4. Lionel Messi🇦🇷.….. love
🚨JUST IN: Jamie carragher on Vitinha been ranked below top 10 of the ballon d’or list
🗣️ Jamie Carragher: “How can players like Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and others rank ahead of Vitinha in the Ballon d’Or rankings? I think the voting was unfair to him.
“People focus too much on goals and assists and forget how important a midfielder can be to a team’s success.
“Vitinha controls games, dictates the tempo, creates opportunities and does the dirty work that often goes unnoticed.
“You don’t have to score every week to be one of the best players in the world.
“For me, Vitinha deserved to be in the TOP 10. If we’re judging players on their overall impact and consistency, I don’t understand how he was overlooked.
“Some players get recognition for their highlights, while others get ignored for doing the hard work that wins matches.”
🎙️ Steven Gerrard on Liverpool having ZERO players in the Ballon d’Or Top 30:
“Ten Liverpool players have made the Ballon d’Or Top 15 in recent times, TEN! We went from having players recognised among the very best in world football to a situation where we cannot even get ONE player into the Top 30?
“I’m sorry, but what exactly happened? Did Liverpool suddenly stop playing football? Did our trophies disappear overnight? Did Anfield get relocated to another planet?
“This is the same club that has produced world class players, won the Premier League and Champions League, and competed with the biggest teams in Europe. Now we cannot even get one name into a list of 30?
“Apparently, you can win trophies, break records and carry an entire team for months, but if you don’t play for the right club or have the right PR team, suddenly you’re not good enough.
“Ten in the Top 15 before, ZERO in the Top 30 now. At this rate, the next Ballon d’Or ceremony will need a DNA test to confirm whether Liverpool are even a football club.
“I’m genuinely embarrassed. And if I’m being honest, some of these rankings look more like a popularity contest than a football award.”
🚨🎙️ Florentino Perez after they told him Kylian Mbappe won’t win the ballon d’or
Mbappe was the clear winner and anyone with eyes can see it. While others collected goals in secondary leagues or against second-rate opposition, Kylian decided matches in the Champions League and carried a team that still finished above most of Europe. Kane scores a lot because Bayern create chances for him every week. Yamal is a talented kid who dribbles past defenders who are afraid to foul him.
Neither of them dominated the biggest stage the way Mbappé did. The difference is obvious to anyone who watches football instead of Twitter clips. Yamal gets votes because he is young and from Barcelona; Kane gets votes because the English media still pretend the Premier League is the only competition that matters. Neither finished the season as the best player in the world. Mbappé did, and the fact that the award went elsewhere tells you more about the voters than about the players.
Real Madrid have won this trophy more than anyone for a reason. We produce and sign the best. I have no interest in arguing with fans who treat a teenager’s highlight reel as proof he is better than a player who has already delivered at the highest level for years.
Kane has been excellent for years and still never looked like the best player on the planet. Pretending otherwise is just noise from people who want to diminish what Mbappé has achieved. The award can go where it wants, the football does not lie. 😬
🚨 BREAKING NEWS: LIONEL MESSI REPORTEDLY BACKS HARRY KANE FOR THE BALLON D’OR!
Messi Reportedly Backs Harry Kane for Ballon d’Or in Surprise Turn of Events
The eight-time winner's alleged support for the Bayern Munich striker has sparked debate over individual excellence, team trophies and football's most prestigious individual award.
Lionel Messi has reportedly thrown his support behind Harry Kane's bid for the Ballon d’Or, in a development that has added an unexpected twist to the ongoing debate over football's highest individual honour.
Messi, who has won the award a record eight times, is no stranger to the demands of individual recognition. His apparent backing of Kane, however, has raised eyebrows among supporters, particularly given the England captain's long-standing pursuit of major team honours.
Kane has established himself as one of Europe's most prolific forwards, consistently delivering goals for both club and country. His individual achievements have rarely been in question. The debate surrounding his credentials, however, has often centred on whether personal statistics alone are enough to secure football's most coveted individual prize.
Messi's reported position appears to support that argument, suggesting that Kane's goalscoring consistency and individual contributions should be assessed independently of his team's trophy haul.
The timing of the alleged endorsement is particularly interesting. Having won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022 and collected eight Ballon d’Or awards throughout his career, Messi has little left to prove on the individual stage. His support for Kane could therefore be interpreted as a generous gesture from a player whose own legacy is already secure.
Alternatively, it may simply reflect the confidence of a man who has won so many individual awards that he can now afford to campaign for somebody else
Kane's case for individual recognition rests largely on his remarkable goalscoring record and consistency at the highest level. Yet his career has also become synonymous with the difficult relationship between individual brilliance and collective success.
The striker's move to Bayern Munich in 2023 was widely viewed as an opportunity to end his wait for a major team trophy. Bayern's subsequent failure to win the Bundesliga in the 2023–24 season only added another chapter to a narrative that has followed Kane throughout his career.
While team honours are not the sole measure of an individual's quality, their absence has frequently featured in discussions about his standing among the world's elite players.
Messi, meanwhile, has experienced the opposite end of that spectrum: a career in which individual awards, domestic success and international glory have combined to leave relatively little room for criticism.
After all, when you already have eight Ballon d’Or trophies, supporting somebody else's campaign is a luxury few footballers can afford.
🚨🗣️Franck Ribéry on the Balon d’Or’s official website posting articles featuring different winners.
🗣️“I've always said the Ballon d'Or is a very incompetent award. Since 2013, I've lost respect for it. What happened that year changed the way I look at this award forever.
How do you explain that the biggest individual award in world football is being exposed like this? What level of incompetence is that? This is supposed to be football's highest individual honour, yet the way things are handled sometimes raises serious questions.
They need to do better. This is a disaster. An award with this much history and prestige should be protecting its credibility, not giving people more reasons to question it.
Footballers dedicate their entire lives to reaching the highest level. When an award means so much to players, the people behind it have a responsibility to handle it with respect and consistency.”
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: A hacker had reportedly leaked an early result allegedly prepared by the Ballon d’Or organizers, naming Harry Kane as the winner.
To avoid spoiling the anticipation and revealing a possible early decision, the organizers reportedly had to announce the other two favourites as winners as well.