And The Winner of The Balon D' Or Is...

The Balon D' Or Ceremony has, without a doubt, become one of the most, If not the most, prolific football awards show of all time. With awards like:

• The Men's and Women's Young Talent of the Year

• The Men's and Women's Goalkeeper of the Year

• The Men's and Women's Coach of the Year

• The Men's and Women's Club of the Year

• The Men's and Women's Striker of the Year

this awards show has spouted thousands of online debates, "what-if" scenarios, and validity of the awards itself. But this year, one thing is for sure. The Balon D' Or 2026 does not have a favorite. And you will not believe who I think will go home with the Golden Ball.

Picture by REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Now, before I proclaim my champion of 2026, let's see the criteria France Football uses to crown the winner.

1. Individual Performance.

2. Collective performances and titles won.

3. Class and Fair Play.

Funneling it down to three players, using these criteria, I had my top 3. Lionel Messi. Lamine Yamal. Harry Kane. Surprised I didn't add Mr. Kylian? So was I. But here's why I didn't. For starters, Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid did not win any major domestic trophies last season. Compared to the rest of the candidates, this is where Kylian has lacked since he's joined Los Galactico's. To add salt to the wound, his ex-club Paris-Saint Germain is doing just fine without him. Matter fact, fine is an understatement. PSG is flourishing without Mbappe, and I will say it is not a coincidence. Don't get me wrong, Mbappe is a generational talent, and I still have nightmares of his 2018 run against the sluggish Argentinian squad in Russia. But lately he has been lacking that edge of competitiveness and creativeness that his club so desperately needs. It may be a debate of, "Is Mbappe really the problem at Madrid?" (Which I will definitely cover in the future. Stay tuned Madristas.) but I just don't see Mbappe carrying the award this year. This brings me to my next candidate.

Lamine Yamal has been a breath of fresh air for FC Barcelona and LA Liga overall. Despite his age, his composure mixed with flair has made him unstoppable. That and his current trophy cabinet make him a suitable candidate. World Cup Winner. La Liga Player of the Season. La Liga winner. Supercopa Winner. Only at 19. Insanity. But he lacks one thing this season. Big Game performances. A stat I found interesting was the fact that in his last 13 games against top clubs he's only contributed 1 goal and 1 assist. Before you bombard me with "But Juan, G/A is such a rubbish way to base a players quality off of! You should stick to selling jerseys!", I have this to say. G/A isn't the only statistic I base my ranking, but it plays a big role. Especially when you want to consider yourself the best footballer. Another thing I wasn't quite fond of was this whole press release Lamine has been on lately stating, "he deserves the golden ball this year." Honestly, it sort of steers me away from wanting him to win the Balon D' Or. You deserve it from the football alone; not some press conferences. I still think Lamine Yamal has a long way to go, and he will definitely be a future Balon D' Or winner but this is not his year.

Next up, we have Harry Kane. A pure nine and a huge part of Bayern and England's success. The top goal scorer in all leagues. But to me, that's where his resume really ends. A world class nine but is he at the forefront of the race and do I really believe he should win it? I don't know. Would I be upset if he won it? No, but there's one man we're forgetting.

Lionel Messi will always be in debate for the Balon D' Or. Even past his prime and playing at 39 years old, he is who I'm rooting for to win his 9th Balon D' Or. The World Cup is his main advocate for this award. To me, he deserved the player of the tournament, which was given to Rodri. I don't know how Rodri won the award nor do I want to know how they got to the conclusion. Regardless, Messi played an excellent world cup. Scoring the most goals for Argentina and rising up to the occasion when his nation needed him most, he was inches away from the sweet destiny of winning it for the second time. This was also his third World Cup final, which I think isn't talked about enough. For his club, Inter Miami, he also had a stellar season. Being their most important player, Inter Miami rose the MLS Cup for the first time in their club career. Watching him play is a delight and dare I say it, he deserves the best player of the year.