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The 2026 World Cup is finally underway as all 48 teams begin to fight it out for the universally coveted trophy. While the collective prize is the main objective for all competitors, some will be hoping to make their claim as the best player of the entire tournament. But who are the top contenders, and who is leading the race for the prestigious Golden Ball?<\/p>\n
The illustrious Golden Ball is about more than just goals. Voted for by media representatives, it offers the chance for the tournament to award players for their all-round excellence and impact on the tournament.<\/p>\n
While it has largely gone to strikers over the years, midfielders and even a goalkeeper have been crowned. Paolo Rossi, Diego Maradona, Salvatore Schillaci, Romario, Ronaldo, Oliver Kahn, Zinedine Zidane and Diego Forl\u00e1n are among the previous winners of the prize, while two active stars – Lionel Messi and Luka Modri\u0107 – are also on the list.<\/p>\n
Messi, the only player to have won it twice with his 2014 and 2022 victories, will hope to go one further by claiming it for a second time in a row. However, the likes of 2022 runner-up Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, Spain sensation Lamine Yamal and England captain Harry Kane are vying for the honor, too.<\/p>\n
At 41 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo is looking to complete his collection by guiding Portugal far in the competition, while Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and Raphina have it in them to fire Brazil to a sixth championship.<\/p>\n
With 48 teams in the competition, there is plenty of potential for a surprise contender to pop up, with quality spread throughout the competition. Here, GOAL<\/strong>‘s World Cup 2026 Golden Ball Power Rankings track the top candidates for the award.<\/p>\n Fresh off the back of a La Liga title-winning season with Barcelona that saw him named the division’s best player, Ballon d’Or runner-up Lamine Yamal is crucial to Spain’s hopes in North America. He has already shown his ability to shine on the international stage after his decisive role in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph as he turned 17 years old.<\/p>\n Now two years older and thoroughly established as one of the world’s best players, he will become the first teenager to be crowned World Cup Golden Ball winner if he pulls it off this year.<\/p>\n With a whopping 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich last season, European Golden Shoe winner Harry Kane will strike fear into any defence he comes across in this competition.<\/p>\n He has scored 11 in his last 12 games for England and with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford in support, he is expecting excellent service as Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions aim to go all the way in 2026.<\/p>\n It may be premature to consider 27-year-old Kylian Mbappe a World Cup great on the face of it, but considering he has both gold and silver medals under his belt and has the same goal record as Brazil icon Pele (12 in 14 games), his status is undeniable.<\/p>\n His second season at Real Madrid may have ended without major honors, but the Frenchman finished the season as both the Champions League and La Liga top scorer. Spearheading a France team that is rife with quality, Mbappe’s penchant to create chances as well as finish them off will put him in good stead to win this prize.<\/p>\n Now he’s just getting greedy! Lionel Messi has won it all in his career \u2014 most of it on more than one occasion \u2014 and is well aware of what it takes to win the Golden Ball. He already has two in his trophy cabinet and with his 39th birthday coming up during the World Cup, it is a testament to his longevity that he remains a pre-tournament favorite yet again.<\/p>\n The Argentine sensation put on a sensational run of displays, scoring seven goals and setting up three, to beat Mbappe to the prize in Qatar four years ago. Can he do it again?<\/p>\n He’s the current Ballon d’Or holder, a reigning two-time European champion with PSG, and a vital component of one of the world’s strongest national teams, so who would dismiss Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9’s chances of taking home the Golden Ball?<\/p>\n Much of the attacker’s France career has been plagued by injuries and struggles at club level, but his resurgence in recent years puts him in the conversation.<\/p>\n Raphinha has struggled with injury at various points this season, but he has the ability to change matches in Brazil’s favor. The confident winger is aware of it, too,<\/p>\n “When it comes to attacking space, I think he is the best player in the world,” Carlo Ancelotti said, and the coach will hope to bring out the best of him in North America.<\/p>\n Despite a chaotic season with Real Madrid, Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior’s quality shone through with a respectable 21 goals and 10 assists across La Liga and the Champions League.<\/p>\n He has been a mainstay for Brazil for the last five years and shares a long history with coach Ancelotti. Who better, then, to rise up and lead the Selecao to global success in the absence of the perennially injured Neymar?<\/p>\n He was the engine for Barcelona as they secured a second straight La Liga title under Hansi Flick, and his importance to the national team can hardly be overstated.<\/p>\n Playing in a midfield that includes options such as Rodri, Fabrian Ruiz, Gavi and Mikel Merino, the 23-year-old’s quality is obvious as he sets the tempo of his team’s play and cuts through opponents with his passing, making him key to Spain coach Luis de la Fuente’s style.<\/p>\n Manchester United may have been miserable for much of the season, but Bruno Fernandes’ performances over the course of the campaign left many in awe. He broke the record for most assists in a single Premier League campaign to earn the division’s Player of the Season award, helping lift the Red Devils to what seemed an unthinkable third-place finish.<\/p>\n He will be fired up to partner Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva and Co in the battle to improve on their quarter-final finish in 2022.<\/p>\n Harry Kane may have got the lion’s share of the goals in Bayern Munich’s blistering campaign, but it was Michael Olise who captured the hearts of many fans. The Bundesliga player of the year’s electrifying pace, immense control and fantastic finishing ability saw him net 20 goals and register 25 assists across the German top-flight and Champions League, where Bayern reached the semi-finals.<\/p>\n He showed no sign of slowing down heading into the competition \u2014 despite the intensity of the schedule he has just completed \u2014 by firing France to a 3-1 win with a hat-trick against Northern Ireland in their last friendly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The 2026 World Cup is finally underway as all 48 teams begin to fight it out for the universally coveted trophy. While the collective prize is the main objective for all competitors, some will be hoping to make their claim as the best player of the entire tournament. But who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}