It’s now no more sleeps until we find out who will win the Ballon d’Or for 2026. The voting is closed, the ceremony is tonight in London and somewhere some cue cards are probably being printed for co-hosts Kate Scott and Thierry Henry to read from, announcing to the world who has won the most prestigious individual award in football.

From the perspective of the three favourites, Kylian Mbappé certainly had the best weekend, scoring two goals to beat Lamine Yamal’s Barcelona. Yamal himself will be having nightmares about a one-on-one chance he had to put Barca 2-1 up. Meanwhile, Harry Kane had a quiet-ish time of it as his Bayern Munich team won 3-1 away to Freiburg.

For all three, the stakes are high as they each bid to win their first ever Ballon d’Or gong and realise a personal dream. In the past few months, Yamal, Kane and Mbappé have all been vocal about what it would mean to win the award following in the footsteps on most recently Ousmane Dembélé, Rodri and Lionel Messi. For the past three years, winning the Ballon d’Or has been served with extra sauce, in the form of what it comes in.

It’s similar to what Spain would have transported the World Cup back home from the US in – a big, fancy custom Louis Vuitton trunk. Yamal will no doubt recall and is likely the most keen to add to his LV collection of impressive trunks.

That’s right, whether it’s sailing (the America’s Cup), tennis (French Open) or F1, no luxury fashion house has more hook ups in sport than Louis Vuitton these days, to the point where its Paris fashion shows are always dripping with the world’s best sporting talent. So it’s no surprise that considering the Frenchness of the Ballon d’Or prize – it’s organised by Groupe L'Équipe and France Football – that the winners are now taking their trophies home in something suitably baller.

The iconic monogram canvas is the main talking point here. Just as Erling Haaland looked like a legend (and duly went viral) for carrying a taxidermied raccoon off a plane; so too would the Ballon d’Or winner arriving home later tonight with one of these trunks, brass corners, clasps and all. And in case the winner needs reminding of what he or she has won it for – there's one each for best male and female players – a golden ‘V’ is painted inside the trunk, to symbolise Victory and Vuitton.

Given LV is the official fits partner of Real Madrid, “victory travels in Louis Vuitton” would sounds all the more sweet if Mbappé were to take home the award. Who will win? We shall see.