Lamine Yamal attends the 70th Ballon D'Or Ceremony at Palladium Theatre on October 26, 2026 in London, England.
Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
As was the case last year, Lamine Yamal was once again one of the leading candidates for the Ballon d’Or, after another incredible year during which he won the La Liga and Spanish Super Cup titles with FC Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain.
However, he was again unable to win this prize, as he finished third in the rankings, behind the winner Harry Kane and the runner-up Kylian Mbappe. Still, he ended up winning the Kopa Trophy for the third consecutive time this year.
As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Barcelona forward reacted to this disappointment of not winning the Ballon d’Or by taking to his social media and publishing an encouraging message, which was accompanied by some of his photos from the Ballon d’Or gala. His social media message went as follows:
“It will come. Good things take time, and I trust the path I’m building. There’s no need to rush. I’m excited and confident that my moment will come one day.
Congratulations to the winners. My focus is now back on what matters: helping FC Barcelona win again.”
Still only 19 years of age, there is no doubt that Lamine Yamal has almost his entire career ahead of him and if he continues to play like he has early in his career, he will certainly go on to win the highest individual prize in European football. In fact, very few people would bet against him winning multiple Ballon d’Ors in his career.
However, for the immediate term, his focus seems to be on FC Barcelona, and his team also needs him to be back at his best level after their two consecutive defeats, at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League and Real Madrid in La Liga. Hopefully, both Lamine Yamal and his team will be back to winning ways as they face Alaves in their next league game.
Tarik Muharemovic of Leeds in action during the during the pre-season friendly match between Leeds United and RB Leipzig at Elland Road on August 08, 2026 in Leeds, England.