The race for the 2026 Ballon d’Or is really heating up, with some of the biggest stars on the planet staking a serious claim with incredible performances at the World Cup.

The likes of Lionel Messi and Rodri, who both played in the final, have dragged themselves into the discussion after being overlooked prior to the biggest international competition in the world. Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane continued their impressive club form during the tournament.

But there isn’t a clear front-runner, which was often the case during Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s decade of dominance. To try and find the clear favourite, a formula has been put together to rank the 12 favourites in order.

Ballon d’Or Study Explained

A Reddit user has come up with a formula that takes several metrics into account, such as goals + assists, POTS awards and trophies.

The formula has been explained by the user: “There has been a lot of discussion about who deserves this year’s Ballon d’Or, so I wanted to put the main contenders side by side. I collected some of the most important statistics and achievements to compare 12 of the current favourites.

“The graphic compares their goals, assists, goal contributions, trophies, all-competition Player of the Match awards and major individual honours. Gold, silver and bronze highlight the top three in each category.

“It also uses a simple weighted model – 40% G+A, 20% POTM, 20% trophies, 12% Player of the Season/Tournament awards and 8% Golden Boots – to produce a provisional ranking.”

It admittedly favours attacking players with goals and assists playing a big part, as they continued: “This ranking naturally favours attackers, which applies to almost all of the listed favourites apart from Rodri. His attacking output should therefore be largely disregarded in the Ballon d’Or discussion, but I still felt obliged to include him because of his overall influence and place among the leading candidates.”

Lionel Messi Deserves Second-Place Ballon d’Or Finish

Credit: Jerome Miron (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters)

Messi, an eight-time winner of the award, falls just short of first place in this study. The Inter Miami forward narrowly missed out on the World Cup Golden Ball despite netting eight goals at 39 years old, and the Argentina icon would have to settle for second place again.

But that still puts him a lot higher than the man who beat him to being named the World Cup’s best player, Rodri. The Spaniard finishes dead last in these rankings despite some wonderful displays on world football’s biggest stage. As previously mentioned, the model leans towards attacking players, so the Man City stalwart only manages a 25.8 score out of 100.

That puts him behind the likes of Deniz Undav (33.0), Luis Diaz (41.0) and even Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (41.8). The latter did break the Premier League’s all-time assist record in a single season this year, but he’s hardly been mentioned in the Ballon d’Or conversation.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is in eighth, most likely held back by Georgia’s failure to qualify for the World Cup this summer. However, he only just scores less than Real Madrid hero Kylian Mbappe and his PSG teammate Ousmane Dembele.

Elsewhere, Lamine Yamal and Erling Haaland narrowly miss out on places on the podium. Both had big World Cup tournaments and managed impressive goal and assist hauls over the season. Yamal got 45, while Haaland registered 69 for club and country.

That leaves two Bayern Munich stars in the top three alongside Messi. Michael Olise broke Pele’s assist record in a single World Cup campaign (7), and manages to sneak into third spot here due to his impressive tally of 34 for club and country.

However, Olise and Messi are beaten to the crown by England’s talisman, Harry Kane. The 33-year-old smashed in 74 goals, which is one of the highest-scoring seasons of the 21st century. An Englishman hasn’t won the Golden Ball since Michael Owen in 2001, but Kane is certainly in the running after a brilliant club season and firing the Three Lions to their best World Cup finish since 1966.

A second nation has come out and defended Gianni Infantino in an eye-opening new statement about the FIFA president’s plans to sell stakes at the World Cup. The walls have begun to close in on the 56-year-old as his vision for football is far removed from most other leading figures within the sport.

UEFA has been among his most vocal opponents, having released a series of critical statements about his plans, with the latest calling on European nations to withdraw their vote for him to be re-elected in March’s crucial FIFA election. Infantino was previously tipped to win by a landslide, with no real opponent for his position emerging.

But after announcing his plans to sell stakes at the World Cup – which he has since made a U-turn on – his greed has given way to an almighty demise. However, that hasn’t stopped two nations from defending him still.

Second Nation Defends Gianni Infantino With Eye-Opening Statement

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

In a surprising statement that makes them the second to give Infantino their vote of confidence after the Czech Republic, Qatar wrote (see below):

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Infantino’s FFE Plans Still Backfired Spectacularly

REUTERS/Lee Smith

FIFA had announced on Tuesday that it was seeking to launch FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would bring together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights – including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing – with the operational delivery of its tournaments.

Infantino had then given football associations until September 19 to back his proposals to sell off part of FIFA to private investors with a £30.1m incentive to accept. But the controversial proposals received fierce criticism from UEFA, CONCACAF (the North American, Central American and Caribbean association) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The backlash forced Infantino to abandon his plans, and he now faces the increasing threat of losing his position at football’s throne. His close relationship with Donald Trump were the first alarm bells following his decision to overturn Folarin Balgoun’s red card at the World Cup, but his incredible lack of care in trying to monopolise a working-class game should be the final nail in the coffin in any attempts to reconcile.

Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement with Inter Milan for defender Cristian Romero, according to ESPN Argentina.

Spurs have had a very busy summer window, bringing in Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Martin Dubravka, Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes, and Sandro Tonali, while the club are also pushing ahead with moves for Man City star Savinho and Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo.

But the club are also looking at sales to balance the squad and trim the fat, and they have now reached a verbal agreement for their captain to move on after months of speculation.

Tottenham and Inter Agree Romero Deal

Romero, who has been described as ‘world-class’, has been on the brink of an exit for a while after growing frustrated in north London. The defender missed the run-in at the end of the campaign with a knee injury, but recovered to help Argentina reach a second consecutive World Cup final during the summer.

Despite his performances there, and the fact that Tottenham stayed in the Premier League, a move away had still been anticipated, and manager De Zerbi admitted that he had accepted the player’s decision to move on, and he had not tried to convince him to stay.

Now, after weeks of talks with Serie A side Inter Milan, a deal worth £34.2m has been agreed for the World Cup winner to return to Italy.

Romero had initially been keen to join a club in Spain, with Barcelona understood to be interested. But the Catalan side needed to make a major sale to be able to afford the 28-year-old, and that hasn’t materialised.

Now, the central defender is closing in on an agreement on personal terms, and just the formalities are needed to seal a move away from Spurs.

Romero Already in the Past at Spurs

While Romero is still considered to be one of the best defenders in the world, it makes sense for everyone that this move goes through. The price is low, but it’s no surprise considering the fact everyone knows they want to go their separate ways.

Spurs were clever enough to get their business for the defence done early too, with Senesi and van Hecke already brought in as direct replacements, while Kevin Danso and Micky Van de Ven make up the other centre-back options, while veteran Ben Davies is also capable of filling in if necessary.

Tottenham have made their decision, and now the club can turn all of their focus towards bringing in the forward additions that they are so desperate for.