“Win matches, win trophies, be appreciated by your teammates and have class.” That was Bertrand Latour’s blunt summary of the debate around Kylian Mbappé, and it fits the argument around his 2026 Ballon d’Or finish. Mbappé ended up runner-up again, even after a season of elite numbers.

The numbers are not the problem

Mbappé became the first player to finish as top scorer in La Liga, the Champions League and the World Cup in a single season. He also recorded 58 goals and 13 assists for club and country in 2025-26, a return that would usually be enough to dominate any individual award conversation.

The split between output and outcome is the awkward part. He scored 25 goals in 31 La Liga appearances, 15 in 11 Champions League appearances and 10 times for France at the 2026 World Cup. Real Madrid did not have the kind of trophy season that tends to carry a Ballon d’Or campaign, and France finished fourth at the World Cup.

Why the trophy argument still lands

Marca, quoted by Foot Mercato and translated from French, argued that the award increasingly reflects collective success as much as individual brilliance. Their point was not subtle. The Ballon d’Or has still tended to reward players who combine elite production with major silverware, and that is the gap in Mbappé’s case.

He has stayed near the top of the voting picture for years, and 2026 was only his second podium finish after third place in 2023. Francis Ngannou backed him as this year’s winner, but the broader reaction around the vote leaned the other way. Pierre Ménès pushed back on the criticism, while Latour said Mbappé should stop forcing people to vote for him and focus on winning matches and trophies.

The next Ballon d’Or debate will probably be easier to win on the pitch than in the arguments around it. Mbappé has 14 goals in 13 appearances this season, so the scoring level has not dropped, but the award conversation still points back to silverware and Real Madrid's results in the months ahead.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →