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🔥 Ballon d’Or day: who are the men’s and women’s favourites?
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- 🔥 Ballon d’Or day: who are the men’s and women’s favourites?
🔥 Ballon d’Or day: who are the men’s and women’s favourites?
The 2025/2026 season had it all: Barcelona crowned champions in Spain, Arsenal champions in England; Bayern, PSG and Inter ruling their leagues, and Spain becoming world champions.
With all the team honours handed out, individual awards are all that remain, and now comes the biggest of them all: the Ballon d'Or.
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So let's take a look at the leading favourites to win it...
Starting with the men's award...
Harry Kane
📸 Alex Grimm - 2026 Getty Images
Harry Kane has had a dream season. The Englishman has been a phenomenal goalscorer and a key player for both Bayern Munich and England.
The numbers speak for themselves: he scored 73 goals in 65 matches. The Golden Shoe winner scored 19 more goals than his nearest challengers. Only Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won more Golden Shoes than the Englishman.
In terms of team achievements, he won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, and finished third at the World Cup with England.
Kylian Mbappé
📸 LLUIS GENE - AFP or licensors
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Kylian Mbappé is coming off a magnificent season with Real Madrid and France, even if that was not quite matched by team success.
The Frenchman was the top scorer in La Liga, the Champions League and the World Cup.
He scored 58 goals and provided 13 assists in 60 matches over the season.
He is only the second player to finish as top scorer in both the Champions League and the World Cup in the same year, after Eusébio in 1966.
Lamine Yamal
📸 JORGE GUERRERO - AFP or licensors
The FC Barcelona winger has dazzled the world once again.
The Barça star scored 25 goals and provided 20 assists in 57 matches for FC Barcelona and Spain.
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He was instrumental in winning La Liga, where he was named MVP, and the Spanish Super Cup.
He also became a world champion with Spain.
Rodri Hernández
📸 Carl Recine - 2026 Getty Images
Rodri Hernández, who already has a Ballon d'Or, is once again among the favourites to claim the individual award.
After all the difficulties caused by his cruciate ligament injury following his EURO triumph, he returned to play an important role for Manchester City.
Above all, though, he returned to play a hugely important role for Spain at the World Cup, particularly from the round of 16 onwards.
The Spanish midfielder was also named the World Cup's Best Player.
Fabián Ruiz
📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors
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Fabián Ruiz: the standout for team honours, and a major individual contributor.
Fabián won the Champions League for the second consecutive time with PSG, Ligue 1 for the fourth time, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the French Super Cup. And that was just with the Parisian club.
He was also hugely important for Spain, winning the World Cup after taking the starting spot of none other than Pedri.
Now for the Women's Ballon d'Or...
Alexia Putellas (FC Barcelona / London City)
📸 JONATHAN NACKSTRAND - AFP or licensors
The two-time winner (2021 and 2022) emerges as the leading favourite to lift her third golden trophy, rounding off a defining year as captain and undisputed leader.
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Why she's a favourite: She took on the creative leadership role in Aitana's absence, rediscovering her best form in terms of technique and authority. She was named UEFA Women's Champions League Player of the Season (MVP) for her consistency and ability to decide matches in the knockout stages.
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Individual stats: 24 goals and 13 assists over the season in question.
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Team honours: UEFA Women's Champions League Liga F Moeve Copa de la Reina Spanish Super Cup UEFA Women's Nations League (with Spain)
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UEFA Women's Champions League
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Liga F Moeve
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Copa de la Reina
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Spanish Super Cup
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UEFA Women's Nations League (with Spain)
Ewa Pajor (FC Barcelona)
📸 Maja Hitij - 2026 Getty Images
The Polish centre-forward delivered one of the most prolific goalscoring campaigns on the continent, becoming Barça's attacking powerhouse.
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Why she's a favourite: She demonstrated elite finishing, making her mark in the most high-pressure moments in Europe: she scored in every knockout round and was named MVP of the Champions League final after netting a decisive brace against Olympique Lyonnais.
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Individual stats: 31 goals (Champions League top scorer with 11 goals in 10 matches) and 8 assists in 40 appearances.
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Team honours: UEFA Women's Champions League Liga F Moeve Copa de la Reina Spanish Super Cup
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UEFA Women's Champions League
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Liga F Moeve
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Copa de la Reina
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Spanish Super Cup
Patri Guijarro (FC Barcelona)
📸 JONATHAN NACKSTRAND - AFP or licensors
The tactical anchor of European football, whose influence goes beyond conventional statistics as she maintains the defensive balance and smooth build-up play of the best team in the world.
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Why she's a favourite: Indispensable to the tactical structure of both club and country. She shone in the latter stages of the Champions League—including a crucial assist for Pajor's second goal in the final—and delivered flawless performances in defensive transitions and counter-pressing.
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Individual stats: 4 goals, 10 assists, the leader in ball recoveries in the opposition half and a pass completion rate above 89%.
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Team honours: UEFA Women's Champions League Liga F Moeve Copa de la Reina Spanish Super Cup UEFA Women's Nations League (with Spain)
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UEFA Women's Champions League
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Liga F Moeve
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Copa de la Reina
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Spanish Super Cup
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UEFA Women's Nations League (with Spain)
Melchie Dumornay (Olympique Lyonnais)
📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors
The Haitian attacker was the most dangerous and decisive player outside Spain, leading Olympique Lyonnais to the UEFA Women's Champions League final and total dominance in France.
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Why she's a favourite: She led the French giants' attack in their toughest European tests, earning MVP honours in the Champions League semi-finals against Arsenal and scoring in the quarter-finals against Wolfsburg. Her combination of powerful running, skill at speed and versatility in the final third makes her one of the hardest players in the world to stop.
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Individual stats: 22 goals and 12 assists over the season in question.
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Team honours: French Première Ligue French Cup Trophée des Championnes (French Super Cup) UEFA Women's Champions League runners-up
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French Première Ligue
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French Cup
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Trophée des Championnes (French Super Cup)
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UEFA Women's Champions League runners-up
Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich)
📸 PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA - AFP or licensors
The Denmark captain delivered one of the most prolific and dominant seasons of her career, finishing as the top scorer in European club football and winning the Women's Gerd Müller Trophy.
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Why she's a favourite: She led Bayern Munich to a historic domestic treble in Germany thanks to her devastating finishing. Her ability to create openings between the lines and finish inside the box made her the most consistent attacker in German football throughout the season.
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Individual stats: 35 goals and 12 assists in 47 competitive matches.
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Team honours: Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga DFB-Pokal Frauen (German Cup) Women's German Super Cup
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Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga
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DFB-Pokal Frauen (German Cup)
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Women's German Super Cup
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
