Lamine Yamal reignites Ballon d'Or debate — why not Harry Kane or a Paris player?

Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal has once again stirred discussion around the Ballon d'Or after an interview scheduled for publication tonight; an excerpt was released on 18.09.2026. The 17-year-old — who last season finished behind Ousmane Dembélé in certain award conversations — openly said he believes he deserves the prize and criticised the criteria many pundits use.

Yamal: the trophy must honour the best player, not the top scorer or a trophy winner

Speaking in the released passage, Yamal argued that trophy success or raw goalscoring totals are not the same as being the world's best player. He singled out the idea that a player from the Champions League winner should automatically be awarded the Ballon d'Or, saying that the team trophy already belongs to the club that won the competition.

In his own words: "The problem now is that people give importance to things that do not bring the Ballon d'Or. When they say that the PSG player must win it because they won the Champions League... When you win the Champions League, you receive the trophy from that competition, which is intended for the best team — that is the prize that PSG already has. It is a completely different thing that the best footballer in the world plays at PSG. The Ballon d'Or must belong to the best player in the world and that's it. Not to the player who simply scored 80 goals, because for 80 goals you get the award for top scorer of the season," Yamal said, and continued.

He added: "Those are different things that people do not understand. The best player in the world is the one whose play you enjoy while watching — as a commentator — someone who stands out from all the others. The best player in the world is the one whose play you enjoy while following from the commentator's position — you watch and think: 'He is a player who is completely different from all the others'.

"When that award goes to the best, and not to the one who scored the most goals or won the most trophies, then it will regain its true value," Yamal concluded. The comments are likely to reignite comparisons with other leading candidates and with players from Paris Saint-Germain, a recurring theme in recent Ballon d'Or debates.

Photo: press material from the event