‘No One Better Than Me’—Is Kylian Mbappe’s Ballon d’Or Claim True?

Kylian Mbappé is gunning for the Ballon d’Or this year—and he’s not doing it quietly.

The Real Madrid and France striker went full campaign mode as he made the case for himself in a lengthy interview with the award’s long-heralded presenter, France Football, the same week the publication announced its nominees for this year’s award.

“I believe I can win it this year,” Mbappé said. “It's one of my objectives, and a short-term one at that.”

The Ballon d’Or—widely held as soccer’s most prestigious individual honor—will be handed out at a gala ceremony in London on October 26, following a vote of 100 journalists, one from each of the top 100 FIFA-ranked nations.

Mbappé, who has yet to rank higher than third in any year, is among the 2026 favorites, in one of the most open years in recent memory, and clearly wants to remind the voters of the strength of his case.

Mbappé Calls on Voters to Look at Individual Record

Kylian Mbappé wants recognition. | David Ramos/Getty Images

“People say I haven't won a [team] trophy,” he told France Football. “But it's an individual trophy.

“Being the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history, surpassing all the greatest legends in history, in the most important tournament that sport has ever created, is breathtaking.”

He added: ”Finishing as top scorer in all the major competitions, where all the best players in the world compete, is significant. I don't know if it's ever been achieved before. I believe history should always be recognized.”

Mbappé continued to stress his belief that Ballon d’Or voting should take into account great individual achievement over team success.

“Of course, there's the team aspect, that's important. Football is a team sport. But it's an individual trophy. And my understanding of the Ballon d'Or is that of the Messi and Ronaldo era,” he said. “It's never given to standard players, but to exceptional players. And I think I've done different things this year.

“So, I believe I can win it.”

The question is: Will he?

Did Mbappé Have the Best Season?

Goals

As a striker, Mbappé is primarily judged on goals and, to be fair, he scored a lot in 2025–26.

The 27-year-old racked up a total of 25 strikes in 31 La Liga games for Real Madrid to earn his second-successive Pichichi Trophy (for the division’s top scorer). In doing so, he became the first man to win back-to-back top scorer honors in his first two seasons in Spain since the great Mario Kempes in the mid-70s.

Yet, Mbappé was not the player with the most goals in all of European club soccer last season.

Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane—one of Mbappé’s main challengers for the Ballon d’Or—took home the European Golden Shoe with 36 goals in just 31 Bundesliga matches. Mbappé actually falls third for league goals scored across 2025–26, behind Kane and Erling Haaland (27).

In all club competitions, Mbappe (42) also falls someway short of Kane’s staggering overall tally of 61 goals. However, when it comes to top scorer awards, it’s a different story. Mbappé was the leading goalscorer in the Champions League in 2025–26 with 15—a single-season tally only ever previously reached by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ballon d’Or Frontrunners Goals in 2025–26

Player	Club/Country	Goals
Harry Kane	Bayern Munich/England	73
Kylian Mbappé	Real Madrid/France	58
Erling Haaland	Man City/Norway	58
Lionel Messi	Inter Miami/Argentina	45
Michael Olise	Bayern Munich/France	27
Lamine Yamal	Barcelona/Spain	25
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia	PSG/Georgia	24
Rodri	Manchester City/Spain	2

Of course, at the international level, Mbappé also took home the World Cup Golden Boot this summer—and became the first player to win it in two separate tournaments—with his ten goals in eight matches for France. However, if you’re feeling particularly ungenerous, two of his goals were scored in the dead-rubber “Bronze Final” defeat to England.

With 22 goals scored across three tournaments, he also overtook Lionel Messi to become the man with the most World Cup goals ever.

All things combined, Mbappé scored 58 goals for club and country in the Ballon d’Or voting period of 2025–26—the exact same total as Haaland and 15 fewer than Ballon d’Or rival Kane (73).

Trophies

This is the area Mbappé would prefer you did not focus on.

Real Madrid, infamously, went a second-successive season without adding to their trophy cabinet in 2025–26, finishing runners up to Barcelona in La Liga, falling to second-tier Albacete in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey and exiting the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage.

It was, on a team level, a year to forget for Madrid, even if Mbappé insisted to France Football that the doomed campaign was still “enriching”.

By May, locker-room infighting (sometimes literally) had come to define Madrid’s season, while an online petition for Mbappé’s exit from the Bernabéu had garnered millions of online signatories.

Despite his best efforts, Mbappé could only captain France to a semifinal defeat to eventual tournament winners Spain at the World Cup.

By contrast, it’s impossible to find another serious contender on the Ballon d’Or shortlist who didn’t experience some form of podium joy in 2025–26.

Kane powered Bayern to a record-smashing Bundesliga title, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia danced his way to a second Champions League, and Rodri, Lamine Yamal and Co. were crowned world champions in New Jersey in July.

Big Moments

Mbappé evoked the names of Messi and Ronaldo—the men who changed the Ballon d’Or forever with their individual brilliance—as he called on voters to reward the exceptional. It’s not as tangible and easy to quantify as goal stats, but how often was Mabppé truly exceptional in 2025–26?

The Frenchman did score several of the most memorable goals at the World Cup and was named Superior Player of the Match on three occasions during the tournament—only Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi were given more MVP awards.

His team may have fallen short in the Champions League, but Mbappé still scored three times against Bayern across the two quarterfinal legs and was regularly Madrid’s best player in La Liga.

In full flight, he is one of the most watchable players in the sport and a ruthless attacking force, seemingly undaunted by any occasion. Whether his individual impact last season was more remarkable than say Lamine Yamal—La Liga Player of the Year—or the Kane is impossible to say.

Ultimately, Mbappé didn’t make an impact on the very biggest moments of last season, because he wasn’t there for them. That may not be his fault, but it does show up the hypocrisy of voting for individual awards in a team sport.

You have to go all the way back to 2013 for the last time the Ballon d’Or winner didn’t lift major silverware with club or country in the same year. Ronaldo’s ludicrous goal haul got him over the line back then amid a three-way voting split with Messi and Franck Ribery. Mbappé will hope the same can happen for him 13 years on.

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