As the football world continues to debate the results, the behind-the-scenes details of the vote have revealed thrilling suspense and microscopic margins. At the heart of the discussion were the fiercely contested podium places and the famous 'trap' of team success for Spanish players.
Kane vs Mbappe: An even closer duel than Rodri vs Vinicius Jr in 2024
Every point counts, and this year more than ever. Asked about the margins at the top of the standings, Garcia confirmed that the battle for the honours between the Bayern Munich striker and the France captain had been incredibly close.
"There were several serious contenders this year. As for the two closest challengers, namely Kane and Mbappe, it really came down to very little this year. The points gap between Kane and Mbappe is smaller than the gap between Rodri and Vinicius in 2024. That was 41 points, and even then it was not much", Vincent Garcia explained.
It is worth recalling that the 2024 edition went down in history when the Spanish midfielder edged out the Real Madrid Brazilian by just 41 points. That was an extremely narrow margin, with each of the 99 voters (out of a possible 100) awarding 15 points to their first choice this year, followed by 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The detailed breakdown of every ballot in this 2026 Ballon d'Or will be revealed in France Football magazine this Saturday.
The team-success trap: how Spain's votes were split
The other major takeaway from the vote was the distribution of points among the Spanish national team. As is often the case after a major international triumph, an abundance of talent can become a disadvantage in individual awards.
Vincent Garcia analysed the impact of La Roja's campaign on the choices made by the 100 international jurors:
"If we analyse the votes, within the Spain team that were world champions, there was a split between Rodri and Lamine Yamal. Rodri took votes away from Lamine in this ballot", the newspaper's editor-in-chief concluded.
"The votes were somewhat split among the Spanish players. Spain were a collective, so it was difficult to single out one individual performance. Lamine Yamal is a world champion, but he scored one goal and started the tournament injured. The jurors found it difficult to separate the Spanish players and choose one over another."
A reminder of the rules
To understand how these tiny margins are created, it is worth revisiting how the Ballon d'Or voting system works:
A limited expert jury: only journalists representing the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings vote for the men's award.
The points system: Each voter selects a Top 10. Points are awarded as follows: 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point.
The three main criteria:
Individual performances and decisive or impressive displays.
Team performances and honours.
Class and fair play.
The suspense will finally come to an end this Saturday with the publication of the full country-by-country voting breakdown in the special edition of France Football.