The 2026 Ballon d'Or is already crackling with tension. No runaway favourite, no pre-written script. Just a three-way fight with Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane standing tallest in the early reckoning.
Mbappe, now draped in Real Madrid white, has built a formidable case on pure performance. Goals, moments, the sense that every time he steps onto the pitch, something decisive might happen. That part, he controls. What happens next, he will not face alone.
Because when Madrid decide one of their own deserves the Ballon d'Or, the club does not sit quietly in the corner.
They campaign.
They mobilise legends, line up interviews, shape the narrative so their man is never far from the front of voters’ minds. According to L’Equipe, this is not a new strategy but a well-worn playbook at the Bernabeu, one they have used to devastating effect before.
The Ronaldo precedent
For proof, rewind to 2013.
Franck Ribery had just completed the kind of season that usually settles these debates before they start: Champions League, Bundesliga, German Cup with Bayern Munich. A treble, the holy grail of club football. On paper, he ticked every box.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not. No major team trophy that year with Madrid. No treble, no league title to lean on. What he did have was an outrageous individual season and a club utterly convinced that this should matter most.
Madrid went to work.
Alfredo Di Stefano spoke. Emilio Butragueno spoke. Carlo Ancelotti, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos – one after another, powerful voices from the club’s past and present lined up behind Ronaldo, hammering home the same message: he was the best player in the world, and this was his year.
Bayern, by contrast, never projected the same unified front. Ribery’s claim had to share space with another in-house rival, Arjen Robben, who also had a legitimate shout. The German champions dominated Europe on the pitch, but they did not dominate the conversation in quite the same way.
When the votes were counted, the margins told the story. Ronaldo took 27.99 percent. Lionel Messi followed with 24.72. Ribery, treble winner and supposed favourite, finished third on 23.36.
Many still argue Ribery had done enough. Yet Ronaldo’s individual brilliance, amplified by Madrid’s relentless backing, proved impossible to ignore.
Mbappe next in line?
Fast forward to 2026, and the pattern feels familiar.
Mbappe has already spoken up for himself, never shy about his ambitions or his belief that he belongs on that Ballon d'Or podium. His numbers and performances have laid the groundwork. Now Madrid can do what Madrid do best: turn that individual case into an institutional cause.
When a club of this size and history starts to move in unison, the effect is hard to escape. Former icons, current leaders, respected figures tied to the Bernabeu – once they begin repeating the same argument, it seeps into every discussion, every panel show, every column about the award.
No campaign can conjure a Ballon d'Or season out of thin air. Voters will still weigh Mbappe against the artistry and precocity of Lamine Yamal, against the ruthless consistency of Harry Kane, and against any other late-charging contenders who force their way into the frame.
But in a year like this, where the gap between candidates looks razor-thin, the margins matter. A handful of swayed opinions here, a reinforced perception there, and the balance can shift.
Madrid have shown before they know exactly how to tip that balance.
The question now is not whether they will push for Mbappe. It is how hard they are prepared to go to make sure the next Ballon d'Or is lifted in white.
