The voting breakdown has revealed some surprising decisions from journalists around the world, including Cameroon, where Lamine Yamal failed to make the country’s top 10.

Harry Kane may have conquered the football world by winning the 2026 Ballon d’Or, but the recently released voting breakdown has revealed that not every journalist was convinced he deserved a place among the world’s ten best players this year.

The Bayern Munich and England striker was crowned the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner on October 26 in London, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal. However, when the individual votes from the 100 participating journalists were made public, two countries stood out for their decision to completely exclude the eventual winner from their top 10.

Mexico and Ivory Coast were the only two countries whose representatives did not include Harry Kane in their top 10 selections.

It is a striking contrast considering that Kane eventually collected 1,055 points to secure the prestigious award, just 28 points ahead of Mbappé, who finished second with 1,027 points.

Cameroon also made a surprising choice

Kane was not the only big name to miss out on some national top 10 lists.

Cameroon’s representative also made a notable selection, leaving Barcelona’s young sensation Lamine Yamal out of the country’s top 10.

Cameroon was joined by Belarus, Croatia and Greece, whose representatives equally excluded the Spanish international from their selections.

Meanwhile, Mbappé was left out of the top 10 by journalists representing Greece, Scotland and Ukraine.

How the top three performed

Despite the individual voting surprises, the final results placed the three leading contenders in the following order:

1st – Harry Kane: 1,055 points.
2nd – Kylian Mbappé: 1,027 points.
3rd – Lamine Yamal: 881 points.

Kane received 40 first-place votes, compared to Mbappé’s 23 and Yamal’s 13.

Football remains a game of opinions

The voting revelations have once again highlighted how differently football performances can be interpreted across countries and individual journalists.

While some voters had Kane at the very top of their rankings, others did not consider him worthy of a place in their top 10. Yet, when all 100 ballots were counted, the English striker emerged as the winner.

What do you make of these voting decisions? Did Mexico and Ivory Coast have a point by leaving Kane out, or was it a major snub to the eventual Ballon d’Or winner?

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