Balon D'or: Harry Kane Edged Kylian Mbappe By 28 Points (See Votes)

The 70th Balon d'Or Ceremony took place on 26th December in London, the first time outside Paris (except for 2010-2015 in Switzerland when it merged with the FIFA awards) in commemoration of its first winner, <i>Englishman</i> Sir Stanley Matthews.<br><br>The award originally eligible for only European players who played for European clubs, it was expanded in 1995 to include players from any nationality who played in European clubs. The same year, saw <i> Liberia's former President </i> George Opong Weah pick up the award following his move from PSG to AC Milan.<br><br>This year's format saw a set of journalists, one from each of the FIFA top-ranked 100 nations of the world vote for the best player who had distinguished himself from August 2025-July 2026. The criteria was based on individual performances, team play/collective trophies and fair play.<br><br>30 names were compiled with the journalists voting for their top 10 via a point-based system: 1st - 15 points, 2nd -12 points, 3rd - 10 points, 4th - 8 points, 5th - 7 points, 6th - 5 points, 7th - 4 points, 8th - 3 points, 9th - 2 points &amp; 10th - 1 point.<br><br>Harry Kane got the Golden Ball, the first for an <i>Englishman</i> in 25 years after Michael Owen (following Liverpool's League Cup, UEFA Cup &amp; FA Cup triumphs) in 2001.<br><br>Mbappe &amp; Yamal finished 2nd &amp; 3rd respectively. <br><br>See how they voted;...<br><br><b>These countries voted No 1 for Yamal</b><br>🇨🇭 Switzerland<br>🇲🇰 North Macedonia<br>🇦🇱 Albania<br>🇩🇿 Algeria<br>🇧🇫 Burkina Faso<br>🇵🇹 Portugal<br>🇨🇻 Cape Verde <br>🇭🇳 Honduras<br>🇹🇷 Turkey<br>🇯🇴 Jordan <br>🇲🇽 Mexico <br>🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales <br>🇹🇳 Tunisia<br><br><br><b>These countries voted No 1 for Kylian Mbappe</b><br>France 🇫🇷<br>Ghana 🇬🇭<br>Germany 🇩🇪<br>Bahrain 🇧🇭<br>Benin 🇧🇯<br>Bulgaria 🇧🇬<br>Cameroon 🇨🇲<br>Ivory Coast 🇨🇮<br>Egypt 🇪🇬<br>Ecuador 🇪🇨<br>Spain 🇪🇸<br>Finland 🇫🇮<br>Guinea 🇬🇳<br>Iraq 🇮🇶<br>Italy 🇮🇹<br>Mali 🇲🇱<br>Palestine 🇵🇸<br>Paraguay 🇵🇾<br>Netherlands 🇳🇱<br>Qatar 🇶🇦<br>DR Congo 🇨🇩<br>Romania 🇷🇴<br>Zambia 🇿🇲<br><br><br><b>These countries voted No 1 for No 1 for Harry Kane</b><br>Japan 🇯🇵<br>South Africa 🇿🇦<br>England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿<br>Angola 🇦🇴<br>Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦<br>Australia 🇦🇺<br>Austria 🇦🇹<br>Belgium 🇧🇪<br>Bolivia 🇧🇴<br>Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦<br>Canada 🇨🇦<br>Chile 🇨🇱<br>Colombia 🇨🇴<br>Costa Rica 🇨🇷<br>Denmark 🇩🇰<br>Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿<br>Ireland 🇮🇪<br>Haiti 🇭🇹<br>Hungary 🇭🇺<br>Iran 🇮🇷<br>Northern Ireland 🇬🇧<br>Israel 🇮🇱<br>Jamaica 🇯🇲<br>Kosovo 🇽🇰<br>Luxembourg 🇱🇺<br>Montenegro 🇲🇪<br>Norway 🇳🇴<br>New Zealand 🇳🇿<br>Oman 🇴🇲<br>Uganda 🇺🇬<br>Uzbekistan 🇺🇿<br>Poland 🇵🇱<br>Russia 🇷🇺<br>El Salvador 🇸🇻<br>Senegal 🇸🇳<br>Slovakia 🇸🇰<br>Slovenia 🇸🇮<br>Sweden 🇸🇪<br>Uruguay 🇺🇾<br>Venezuela 🇻🇪 <br><br><br><b>OUTSIDE THE BOX</b><br><i>These countries voted No 1 for Lionel Mess</i><br>🇦🇷 Argentina<br>🇧🇾 Belarus<br>🇧🇷 Brazil<br>🇨🇳 China<br>🇦🇪 UAE<br>🇵🇦 Panama<br><br><br><br><b>Kane had 11 second-placed votes &amp; 14 third-placed votes<br>Mbappe had 24 second-placed votes &amp; 17 third-placed votes <br>Yamal had 20 second-placed votes &amp; 14 third-placed votes</b><br><br><br><b>Veteran sports Journalist, Samm Audu was Nigeria's representative <br>He voted Rodri as #1 <br>Kylian Mbappe 5th.<br></b>