Kylian Mbappé held nothing back. At the press conference prior to Real Madrid’s debut against Inter Milan in the Champions League, the Frenchman was direct when it was time to talk about the Ballon d’Or: “I vote for myself”.
His argument was simple: for him, this is an individual award, not a collective one, and in 2026 he finished the World Cup as the top scorer with 10 goals, becoming the competition’s all-time leading scorer. Even so, he acknowledged that the final say does not rest with him, but with the journalists who vote, and admitted that he still needs to improve his defensive work.
The official list of candidates was announced on September 6 and also includes his teammates Bellingham, Cucurella and Vinícius. José Mourinho publicly came out in support of him, insisting that the trophy should reward the best player in the world, not just whoever accumulates the most collective titles.