Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony!

As we countdown to the crowning moment, stay up to date with the latest arrivals and rankings as they come in, as players, fans, coaches and legends alike flock to the London Palladium.

Stay up to date with all the latest goings on from the Ballon d'Or ceremony with our dedicated live blog below!

Ballon d'Or 2026 live: Who will win?

The 2026 men’s Ballon d’Or will be presented at the London Palladium tonight, with the ceremony starting at 8pm. Harry Kane is the bookmakers’ favourite, having taken that position from Lamine Yamal in recent days.

Harry Kane: The goals case

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich, 19 more than any other player at a top-five-league club. Thirty-six came in the Bundesliga, which earned him a second European Golden Shoe.

Bayern won the Bundesliga and German Cup but lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals; a win would make Kane the first English recipient since Michael Owen in 2001.

Lamine Yamal: the trophies case

Yamal won La Liga with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain, playing all 120 minutes of the final at 19. He had 41 goal involvements for Barcelona, made up of 24 goals and 17 assists.

No La Liga player created more chances than his 118 in all competitions, and he would be the youngest winner in the award’s history should he waltz up to the stage later on.

Mbappe scored 58 goals in 60 appearances, topping the scoring charts in La Liga (25) and the Champions League (15). His 15 Champions League goals beat Kane’s 14, yet Real Madrid went out in the quarter-finals.

His 10 goals at the World Cup made him the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, totalling an unrivalled 22, but Real Madrid finishing the season without a trophy is the obvious obstacle to his vote count.