Paris (France) (AFP) – Votes for the Ballon d'Or have closed since Monday, but the pleadings of the main contenders may not be finished by October 26, the date when football's supreme individual award will be awarded in London, after a deafening media campaign.

Published on: 09/30/2026 - 1:58 p.m.

From the alternation between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for a decade to the boycott of Real Madrid in 2024, furious that Rodri was dubbed in front of Merengue striker Vinicius Junior, there has been no shortage of debates in the 70 years of existence of the Ballon d'Or.

But this 2026 campaign "is quite unprecedented in terms of its media noise" told AFP Pascal Ferré, former editorial director of France Football, the newspaper which organizes the ceremony, and author of "The hidden face of the Ballon d'Or" (Albin Michel).

Not only are clubs, coaches and teammates pushing for their suitor, but he is now pleading for his cause himself.

“There was no one better than me last season,” proclaimed Real and Blues striker Kylian Mbappé, saying he had “always been seen as the chosen one.”

“I was never the chosen one, but I worked,” replied Ousmane Dembélé, who wants to keep his trophy won last year.

The Ballon d'Or rewards "a different player", which "has nothing to do with the number of goals he scores", insisted the Spanish prodigy Lamine Yamal.

A concert of contenders which turns into cacophony, far removed from the much more serene campaign for the women's Ballon d'Or (created in 2018), during which the Spaniard Alexia Putellas argued to AFP that "football spoke for (her)".

“It also reflects the fact that between men's football and women's football, there is not the same level of notoriety, therefore not the same level of media uproar,” estimates Pascal Ferré.

“Fantasy machine”

And to counterbalance: "If it (the men's Ballon d'Or) interests so much, it's because it remains a fantasy, pressure and intrigue machine." Proof of a trophy “which is not losing credibility”.

“The real turning point is that the players are entering the battle. Before it was a more institutional lobbying campaign, less assertive with the clubs and those around them,” the director of the Sport Market communications consultancy agency, Bruno Bianzina, told AFP.

If Mbappé spoke in the columns of the Madrid newspaper As, Real's usual relay, he also gave other interviews, including a notable interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI), organized on the contrary by his own entourage, according to journalist Olivier Pron who carried out the interview.

“They (his entourage) are in the campaign and want to reach Africa,” he explains in a video published by RFI, adding that certain subjects had been excluded: French politics, the governance crisis at Fifa, or the subject of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco.

The reason for such an investment?

"There are no favorites who stand out in the race, each player finds that he has his chance and tries to impose his +storytelling+ by pulling the criteria towards him", judges Bruno Bianzina.

Individual vs collective

The official criteria for the Ballon d'Or thus distinguish individual performances, and therefore also statistical performances, from the collectives which come second.

The former can support the candidacies of Mbappé, prolific with Real as with the Blues (top scorer in the 2026 World Cup), or the Englishman Harry Kane, much more discreet in the media despite a crazy season with Bayern Munich (61 goals in 51 matches).

But neither of them lifted the World Cup, unlike Lamine Yamal and Rodri, crowned with La Roja, or the Champions League, like Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia European champions for the second time in a row with Paris SG.

Despite these individual campaigns, "there is real coordination between the clubs and the players", believes Bruno Bianzina. “The Ballon d’Or is part of the mythology of the club,” he insists.

“It’s an international showcase like no other,” adds Pascal Ferré, referring to the Mondovision broadcast “in 180 countries.”

With 10 preselected out of 30 (new record, after 9 last year), PSG claims to focus its campaign on the collective, without wanting to comment further on its strategy. Which does not prevent him from featuring Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia in cross interviews, while Fabian Ruiz was entitled to his spotlight with a few individual interviews.

All three players “deserve to win,” PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi said Tuesday, adding that Ruiz “is the only one to have won all the trophies.”

Lobby, statistical arguments, media battle: are these strategies bearing fruit?

“The Ballon d’Or is not a media noise competition,” recalls Pascal Ferré.

© 2026 AFP

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