The race is officially on to see who will succeed Ousmane Dembele as the 2026 Ballon d'Or winner.
Dembele took out football's top individual gong for 2025 thanks to a season in which he fired Pairs Saint-Germain to a Ligue 1 title but, more importantly, a maiden Champions League crown.
Ousmane Dembele wins Ballon d'Or
Teenage talent Lamine Yamal finished one place behind Dembele in the rankings and is already one of the favourites for the award next year.
Harry Kane, thanks to his record breaking feats in Germany, will also be high up. The striker is the fastest player to score 100 goals for a major European club, beating Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo.
So, who else is among the contenders to win the 2026 Ballon d'Or?
Here, talkSPORT.com keeps an eye on those who are expected to figure in the conversation for the coveted prize in 2026 via our Ballon d'Or power rankings.
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The rankings are collated based on a player's odds, provided by talkSPORT Bet, for the 2026 Ballon d'Or.
2025 Ballon d'Or Rankings
Ousmane Dembele
Lamine Yamal
Vitinha
Mohamed Salah
Raphinha
Achraf Hakimi
Kylian Mbappe
Cole Palmer
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Nuno Mendes
Pedri
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Harry Kane
Desire Doue
Viktor Gyokeres
Vinicius Jr
Robert Lewandowski
Scott McTominay
Joao Neves
Lautaro Martinez
Serhou Guirassy
Alexis Mac Allister
Jude Bellingham
Fabian Ruiz
Denzel Dumfries
Erling Haaland
Declan Rice
Virgil van Dijk
Florian Wirtz
Erling Haaland
10th - Pedri (Barcelona)
It's quite remarkable to think Pedri is only 22 but already has over 200 appearances for Barcelona to his name.
Despite establishing himself as one of football's brightest talents, the midfielder finished 11th in the Ballon d'Or rankings.
Pedri has never been the type to rack up piles of goals and assists, instead it is his silky passing and ability to keep possession that makes him one of the best midfielders on the planet.
The Spanish international is tipped to surge up the rankings when the Ballon d'Or rolls around next year and given his age, it would be silly to think Pedri won't be a serious contender for years to come.
More and more pundits are latching onto his talent, with Paul Scholes recently calling him his 'favourite player in the world'.
Meanwhile, long time LaLiga coach Jose Luis Mendilibar commented before facing Barca that: "Pedri is so good he almost makes you forget about Xavi and [Andres] Iniesta."
It's been slim pickings for midfielders to have won football's greatest individual honour since the turn of the century, but Rodri has paved the way for Pedri
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It's been slim pickings for midfielders to have won football's greatest individual honour since the turn of the century, but Rodri has paved the way for PedriCredit: talkSPORT
9th - Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
Bayern Munich's new tactic of signing the best underpaid Premier League talent is certainly working, particularly with Michael Olise.
Harry Kane has summed up their approach with his record breaking goalscoring while Luis Diaz and Nicolas Jackson have both hit the ground running.
However, Olise may well end up being the best buy of the lot as you'd be hard-pressed to find a Bundesliga fan who didn't think he was the best signing in the world last season.
Bayern forked out £50million to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2024 and he repaid them in no time with 17 goals and 18 assists in 50 games as they took home the league title and looked like a threat again in the Champions League.
On top of that, the London-born 23-year-old is now becoming key at international level, and if he's integral for France at the 2026 World Cup along with the big prizes for Bayern, we could be looking at another French Ballon d'Or winner.
Olise is being called the man to replace Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben after Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane didn't make the cut
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Olise is being called the man to replace Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben after Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane didn't make the cutCredit: Getty
8th - Raphinha (Barcelona)
At various stages last season, Raphinha appeared to be the favourite for the Ballon d'Or.
It never eventuated, as the Barcelona flyer ultimately finished 5th in the final rankings.
There wasn't much more Raphinha could have done to make his case either having scored 34 goals and registered 25 assists from 57 games for Barcelona across all competitions.
Having played almost exclusively at left wing last term, Raphinha has been deployed all over the front three this season by Barca boss Hansi Flick to accommodate the loan arrival of Marcus Rashford.
The position Raphinha predominately occupies this season will prove telling in terms of his Ballon d'Or hopes, although he's started well with three goals and two assists from seven games in all competitions.
7th - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah had a season of dreams to inspire Liverpool to the 2024/25 Premier League title as he registered 29 goals and 18 assists in the top flight.
The Egyptian's 47 goal contributions equalled the record for the most in a Premier League season, which he now jointly holds alongside Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.
Despite the mind-boggling numbers behind a glittering campaign, it was only good enough for fourth in the 2025 Ballon d'Or rankings, meaning Salah must do even better to not just win the award but finish on the podium.
He now has a stronger supporting cast at Anfield thanks to the summer arrivals of Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.
Although the trio's addition may improve Liverpool on the whole, their respective desires for goals and assists could lead to a slight dip in Salah's numbers for the season.
So far the signs are that will be the case, and Salah has now been dropped in back-to-back Champions League matches, moving him from third in the odds down to seventh.
Salah's 4th-place finish in 2025 was his highest-ever in the Ballon d'Or rankings
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Salah's 4th-place finish in 2025 was his highest-ever in the Ballon d'Or rankingsCredit: talkSPORT
6th - Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
The only player on the list whose club has virtually nothing to do with their odds, Messi's standing of sixth is all about what he does for Argentina.
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is still breaking records with Inter Miami and could add the MLS title after leading his side to the play-offs as the league's top scorer.
Yet all of that will just be a prelude to the 2026 World Cup which he looks set to shine in once more.
Messi did talk up retirement after a near-perfect qualifying campaign, but an impending new contract in Miami suggests otherwise.
Sine winning the 2022 edition Argentina look more than ready to retain their title and Messi could be the centrepiece.
Let's not forget his last crown came just thanks to the World Cup amid an underwhelming time with PSG.
Messi's still flying with club and country and a World Cup win would surely fire him back into Ballon d'Or contention
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Messi's still flying with club and country and a World Cup win would surely fire him back into Ballon d'Or contention
5th - Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)
Dembele was understandably emotional after he claimed the Ballon d'Or as he became the second Frenchman in the last four years to have won the award.
Now, he has the chance to become the first player not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to win back-to-back Ballons d'Or since Marco van Basten, who accomplished the feat in 1988 and 1989.
The 28-year-old has already began the season brightly with four goal contributions in as many games before he went down with an injury while on international duty with France.
But what could prove crucial to Dembele retaining his Ballon d'Or crown is the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
Should Dembele have a strong season for PSG and inspire France to World Cup glory next year, he will have a remarkably strong case to win football's coveted award yet again.
4th - Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
If the Ballon d'Or was decided purely on goals scored in a season, Erling Haaland would be in contention for the award every year.
Since the Norwegian marksman joined Manchester City in the summer of 2022, he has scored a staggering 133 goals in 153 appearances across all competitions.
In fact, only Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe have scored more league goals than Haaland since the 2022/23 season.
He has won the Premier League's golden boot in two of the three campaigns he has been at City and given he's five goals ahead in the race for this season, you'd be silly to claim Haaland won't add a third to his collection.
However, Haaland's Ballon d'Or hopes will likely hinge on City's success in cup competitions and the Premier League.
City went into this season on the back of their first trophyless campaign since 2017.
Two of those in succession would surely kill off any hope Haaland had of a maiden Ballon d'Or.
Haaland's goal numbers from his first three seasons at City have to be seen to be believed
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Haaland's goal numbers from his first three seasons at City have to be seen to be believedCredit: talkSPORT
3rd - Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Despite a season in which he scored 41 goals across all competitions and won his maiden Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich striker Kane finished 13th in the 2025 Ballon d'Or rankings.
But in a World Cup year, it is almost perfect timing for Kane to skyrocket up the leaderboard.
A talismanic figure for England, Kane would have a ridiculously strong case for the Ballon d'Or if he can enjoy a similar goalscoring season fro Bayern and lead the Three Lions to a deep run at next year's World Cup.
Kane has eight goals from 11 World Cup matches, so there's a high expectation to continue the scoring trend in 2026.
If he can continue to break records, like he already has done this season, then Kane has every reason to be a favourite for next year's Ballon d'Or.
2nd - Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
Kylian Mbappe once finished as high as third in the Ballon d'Or rankings in 2023, but hasn't quite hit those same heights since.
But a change in the dugout at Real Madrid, with Xabi Alonso replacing Carlo Ancelotti, Mbappe has become a man transformed.
It's taken the French superstar only eight games to reach double figures for the 25/26 season across all competitions, with eight goals coming in LaLiga.
To compare, it took Mbappe 15 league fixtures last season to reach that number of goals.
Similarly to a large number of fellow Ballon d'Or rivals, Mbappe's hopes for a maiden crown may hinge on not just Real Madrid's trophy haul this season but France's journey at the World Cup.
He's already inspired Les Bleus to a world championship in 2018 and a run to the final in 2022, so expect Mbappe to have a big say in how the 2026 iteration of the tournament unfolds, especially since he has 12 goals in 14 appearances at football's biggest show.
Given what Mbappe's already done in World Cups it would be no surprise if 2026 was his year
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Given what Mbappe's already done in World Cups it would be no surprise if 2026 was his yearCredit: Getty
1st - Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Aged 17 years and 53 days, Lamine Yamal broke the record for the youngest player to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or.
Although he didn't win, the fact the Spaniard finished second in the voting is clear enough of a sign a Ballon d'Or in his trophy cabinet is almost a matter of when, not if.
The teenage sensation is not shy of his aims either, stating he doesn't dream of winning just one Ballon d'Or, 'I dream of many.'
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Having fired Spain to glory at Euro 2024, where he registered a tournament-leading four assists and was named the best young player, Yamal will be targeting similar success at next year's World Cup with La Roja.
Regardless of how Spain fares in North America next year, time is on Yamal's side to create history as the youngest-ever Ballon d'Or winner, a record which belongs to Ronaldo who win it in 1997 aged 21 years, three months and five days.