With the 2026 Ballon d’Or award set to be presented to soccer’s top performer — as determined by France Football magazine — next Monday in London, there’s no better time to take a crack at ranking the Top 20 players in the game.
Many of those listed below have been nominated for the most coveted individual prize on Planet Fútbol, though while the Ballon d’Or voters can only consider achievements from early August 2025 to July 19 of this year, the day Spain beat Argentina in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, this list reflects who ranks where right now.
(Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
The Manchester City winger’s ball skills are as dazzling as they come, and the end-product (4 goals, 2 assists in six Premier League contests) has been there this season, too.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- 2025-26 FA Cup winner (Manchester City)
- 2025-26 League Cup winner (Manchester City)
- Member of France’s 2026 World Cup Squad
(Photo by Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The 29-year-old Brazilian captain leads Europe’s top five leagues with 12 goals. Raphinha finished fifth in Ballon d’Or voting for the year.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 La Liga champion (Barcelona)
- 21 goals across all competitions for Barcelona in 2025-26
- Member of Brazil’s 2026 World Cup squad
(Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
On his way to becoming one of the best Eucadarian players ever, Pacho is already one of the main defenders of the central socks; his partnership with PSG boss Marquinhos continues to be the best in Europe by some distance.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG)
- 2025-26 Ligue 1 champion (PSG)
- Started all four of Ecuador’s matches at the 2026 World Cup
(Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images)
Signed by PSG from Italian side Napoli at the beginning of 2025, “Georgian Maradona” became an immediate starter for Luis Enrique as the Parisians won domestic and European honors. However, his season ended after injuring his ACL on October 20 in a Champions League win over Barcelona.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Champions League Player of the Season
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG), with 10 goals and six assists in the competition
- 2025-26 Ligue 1 champion (PSG)
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old from Portugal is the world’s top player, although he is out for several weeks due to a thigh injury suffered in PSG’s 2-1 win over Argentoria last weekend.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG)
- 2025-26 Champions League Team of the Season
- Scored for Portugal at the 2026 World Cup
(Photo by Maynard Manyowa/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Elite goalkeepers are in short supply these days, which is one of the reasons Raya is here, even though he didn’t even join his country’s starting line-up; Arsenal No. 1 watched from the bench as Unai Simon sent Spain to last summer’s World Cup. However, the 31-year-old vet was the best goalkeeper at the club last season and allowed five goals in seven league games this one, tied for the top spot in the Premier League.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Premier League champion (Arsenal)
- 2025-26 Premier League Golden Glove (19 clean sheets)
- 2026 World Cup champion with Spain
(Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
The veteran right back remains the best in his position and, at only 27, one of the best, period. Before helping PSG to recover, in the last spring of Europe, Hakimi took over Morocco in the African Cup of Nations, because the Atlas Lions after defeating Senegal, he was later in charge.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025 Africa Cup of Nations champion (Morocco)
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG)
- Captained Morocco to the 2026 World Cup quarterfinals
(Photo by Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
Regarded as the top midfielder in the game, the 26-year-old Portuguese destroyer has been the support of manager Luis Enrique during PSG’s trophy-laden last two seasons. He also helped his country to win the 2025 UEFA Nations League, beating Spain, and finished third in the Ballon d’Or voting.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG), named Player of the Match in the final
- 2025-26 Ligue 1 champion (PSG)
- Member of Portugal’s 2026 World Cup squad
(Photo By Javier Borrego/Europa Press via Getty Images)
Although he was not Spain’s starter at the World Cup, he created more chances than any other La Roja player in the tournament. His introduction off the bench in extra time was the spark that sealed the trophy for Ferran Torres.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup champion (Spain)
- 2025-26 LaLiga champion (Barcelona)
(Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
The big Brazilian champion was the central rock on which Arsenal’s success in 2025-26 was built, as the Gunners won the Premier League for the first time in two decades and came tantalizingly close to a maiden triumph in Europe’s top club competition.
At 28, Gabriel is perhaps the tallest defender in the Premier League with Arsenal teammate William Saliba long injured.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Premier League champion (Arsenal)
- 2025-26 Champions League Team of the Season
- Started for Brazil at the 2026 World Cup
(Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The Real Madrid star has been the leader of England’s move and, with all due respect to Kane, is the best player leading his country to a bronze medal in the 2026 World Cup, the Tres Lions’ most goals since 1966. He has three goals and three assists in nine La Liga matches.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup bronze medal winner (England)
- England-record seven goals at the 2026 World Cup
(Photo by Sathire Kelpa/Eurasia Sports Images/Getty Images)
When Dembélé took home the Ballon d’Aut last year, the obvious question was: What would he do for an encore?
The 29-year-old responded by leading PSG to their second European crown in two seasons, sending his side’s equalizer against Arsenal en route to victory on penalties. In two Champions League games this season, he already has three goals.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Champions League winner (PSG)
- 2025-26 Ligue 1 champion (PSG)
- Started for France at the 2026 World Cup
(Photo by Peter Kneffel/picture company via Getty Images)
The long face of the greatest generation of England players since the three Lions alone won the World Cup more than 60 years ago, the classy center forward is probably on the downslope of his career at the age of 33.
It remains, however, the game’s best pure scorer Erling Haaland, six bagged seven to seven 2026 by this way of Norway.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Bundesliga champion (Bayern Munich)
- 2025-26 Bundesliga top scorer (36 goals)
- 2026 World Cup bronze medal winner (England)
(Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Socrates/Getty Images)
Like Messi, Cubarsí also had an argument for the golden World Cup.
Just 19 years old, the Barcelona center anchored Spain’s backline as La Roja shut out opponents en route to lifting the World Cup, conceding an astonishing one goal against in eight matches. Later, a product of Barça’s academy was named the top youth player of the competition.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup champion (Spain)
- 2026 World Cup Best Young Player
- 2025-26 LaLiga champion (Barcelona)
(Photo by Andrew J. Clark/ISI Images/ISI Images via Getty Images)
How can Messi not be here after CAPELLA, who turned 39 in the World Cup, scoring eight goals to help Argentina reach the last four? Only Kylian Mbappé, his ninth and 10th strike, came against the back of England in the glorified friendly, which was tied for third place, was more productive.
Messi was the best player on the field in the Albiceleste’s 2-1 win over England in the semis and was his country’s top scorer in Spain’s last season away defeat. Inter Miami is also the leading scorer in MLS with five more goals than any other player despite playing in fewer matches.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup runner-up (Argentina)
- 2025 MLS Cup champion (Inter Miami)
- 2025 MLS MVP
(Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Last season’s Premier League Golden Boot winner, the game’s deadliest winger is once again on top of the scoring charts in England’s Premier League. Across all competitions, the 26-year-old has more goals than games played, including four tallies in the last two Champions Leagues.
It was a banner year. In November, Haaland led his country to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, then fired them into the quarterfinals in the main event with two goals in a 2-0 upset in Brazil.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2025-26 Premier League Golden Boot winner (27 goals)
- 2025-26 FA Cup and League Cup winner (Manchester City)
- Led Norway to its first-ever World Cup quarterfinal
(Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
Receiving the Golden Ball for the MVP of the World Cup, Rodri is clearly in the running to reclaim the prize and has somewhat surprisingly taken it home in 2024 while playing for Manchester City.
Rodri returned to Spain in August to play for Barcelona, turning out to be a legitimate contender for the Champions League title in the bookies’ absolute favourites.
While Rodri’s main complaint was that he missed his last season with a mostly torn ACL with City, that only makes his recent skills more serious.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup champion (Spain)
- 2026 World Cup Golden Ball (most outstanding player)
- 2025-26 FA Cup winner (Manchester City)
(Photo by Christina Pahnke – sampics/Corbis via Getty Images)
In a team comically stacked with Kylian Mbappé and 2025 Ballon d’Or recipient Ousmane Dembélé, Olise was France’s standout player at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Those performances over the summer in the US quickly put Bayern Munich in the conversation for the world’s best players.
He has gotten off to a fast start with Bayern this term, with seven goals for the team in eight Bundesliga and Champions League games.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup bronze medal winner (France)
- Set World Cup record for most assists at a tournament
- 2025-26 Bundesliga Player of the Season (Bayern Munich)
(Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The 27-year-old Frenchman won his second consecutive World Cup d’Or of the summer, netting 10 times as Les Bleus finished fourth this summer. The third season with Real Madrid continues at will; Mbappé has 11 goals as many in La Liga and UEFA Champions League games ahead of Wednesday’s champions’ trip to Leipzig.
Although he has yet to win a European or Spanish title, since leaving his hometown club Madrid for PSG, his case for the Ballon d’Dor is strong. So don’t be surprised if he collects the honor for the first time following nine career nominations.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup bronze medal winner (France)
- 2026 World Cup Golden Boot winner (10 goals)
- All-time top scorer in World Cup history (22 goals in 3 appearances)
(Photo by Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In a year where there is no clear Ballon d’Or frontrunner, the 18-year-old superstar has as much momentum as anyone. He just won the World Cup, and although La Roja scored once in eight games in the tournament, the youngster was a crucial player in the championship team’s game.
“That’s the best performance I’ve ever seen since the 19th century,” former USA and Villarreal striker Jozy Altidore told me the day after he covered the distributor for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. “Every time he lost the ball, he tore it up and gave it back. They don’t pay attention to these things. He’s so good, so learned, so professional.”
With Barcelona leading La Liga this season, Yamal has resumed his high-flying ways. Despite playing as a right winger, he trails only Barça teammate Raphinha and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé in goals two months into the 2026-27 campaign.
ACHIEVEMENT:
- 2026 World Cup champion (Spain)
- 2025-26 LaLiga champion (Barcelona)
- 24 goals across 45 appearances for Barcelona in 2025-26