Real Madrid's plan to make Mbappé win the Ballon d'Or: it's played out off the field

The winner of the 2026 Ballon d'Or will be announced on October 26th, and never before have we seen such a strong campaign to push the main candidates, including the statements of the interested parties themselves. According to the betting companies, which are rarely wrong given the huge amount of money at stake, the winner has already been determined: Harry Kane, whose odds as the absolute favorite continue to fall, now ranking below 1.60 on the list of one of the most popular British agencies. Behind him, by a large margin, come Lamine Yamal (odds 3.75), Rodri (5.50) and Kylian Mbappé (7.00).

Why Mbappé hopes to win the 2026 Ballon d'Or: "Nobody better than me"

The 27-year-old French striker has endured a trophyless season at club level, ultimately losing in the World Cup semi-finals to Spain, but his incredible goal-scoring stats throughout the season keep him in contention: Mbappé was the top scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League (25 and 15 goals, in 31 and 11 matches respectively), before winning the Golden Boot at the World Cup, where his 10 goals also made him the competition's all-time top scorer.

The point is that Kane also had monstrous goalscoring figures last season, even more: 61 goals in 51 games played with Bayern Munich, of which 36 goals in the Bundesliga (top scorer and European Golden Shoe), 14 in the Champions League, 10 in the German Cup (including a treble in the final), one in the German Super Cup. And the English striker did not end the season with zero titles, on the contrary, having won all the competitions in which he participated with Bayern within national borders, while he also stopped in the semi-finals at the World Cup.

Mbappé, however, believes so, and in his latest interview – given precisely to France Football, the magazine that organizes the Ballon d'Or – he doesn't mince words to promote his candidacy: "I've always been considered the chosen one. I vote for myself. There has been no better player than me. Even the best player in the world can have a season without winning a title. On the contrary, you can win everything and not be the best player in the world."

Real Madrid's plan to push Mbappé towards the prize

A reasoning that Real Madrid also shares, certainly with interest, since having a Ballon d'Or winner in your ranks is to the full advantage of the club's prestige. So much so that Florentino Perez's club has organized a special plan, revealed by L'Equipe, to push the Frenchman's candidacy to the maximum. The plan in question foresees that, on the eve of the award ceremony, the club's legends will constantly explain why Mbappé deserves to win it.

Real Madrid followed a similar approach in 2013, when Di Stefano, Butragueno, Ancelotti, Casillas and Sergio Ramos all publicly backed Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Ballon d'Or. And in fact, the Portuguese won one of his five trophies, beating two Bayern Munich players, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. Real will be hoping history repeats itself with Mbappé.