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Ballon d'OrGetty Images
Ahmed Abdelhamid
Translated by

Fallacies and a vote for a losing player: Italy's representative reveals his Ballon d'Or choices

Originals
H. Kane
K. Mbappe
England
France

Kondo justifies his nominations

Paolo Condo, the Italian journalist and his country's representative in the Ballon d'Or vote, has revealed his choices in the edition in which Harry Kane was crowned with the award on Monday evening, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal.

Writing in Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" on Tuesday, Condo set out why he put Mbappe top of his ballot. A player of his quality, he argued, should not end his career without a Ballon d'Or. He then named the rest of his top three, along with his picks for best goalkeeper, team and coach.

His justification carries a glaring flaw. Condo claimed Mbappe outshone Kane in the two competitions where they met, yet the results say the opposite. Bayern Munich knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League, and England beat France in the third-place play-off at the 2026 World Cup.

  • With no undisputed candidate, I made my choices with an eye on something beyond a single season. Kane is a wonderful striker, but in the competitions where he went up against Mbappé, the French star always had the upper hand.

    Harry Kane won, so let us celebrate Harry Kane. He is a wonderful striker in every respect, and in the most puzzling edition of the Ballon d'Or ever, he most likely also benefited from the "career recognition" effect linked to his turning 33.

    I did the same thing myself as a member of the Italian jury for the award.

    Lacking an undisputed candidate, I made my choices looking beyond a single season, and when I placed Kylian Mbappé at the top of my list, I was hoping to avoid the possibility that an exceptional player like him might retire without winning the Ballon d'Or.

    Mbappé is 27 and plays for Real Madrid, so his chances, in theory, appear to remain open until at least 2032. But there is another matter. There is a feeling that Lamine Yamal, aged 19, will soon start collecting the Ballon d'Or on a regular basis, and perhaps his rival for these awards will be another French player, the wonderful Michael Olise, aged 24.

  • I was frustrated by the thought that the best player of this era might never win the most prestigious individual award. So I prioritised the jury's first criterion: individual performance. That tipped it towards Mbappé, who took home three top-scorer awards despite ending the season without a single team trophy. He finished top in La Liga with 25 goals, in the UEFA Champions League with 15, and at the World Cup with 10.

    Kane scored more goals too. But in the two competitions where the pair went head to head, the Frenchman came out on top.

  • The France Football ballot asks you to vote for ten players, so I should add that Rodri completed my podium in second place. He was the pivotal man in the Spain side crowned World Cup champions, even though injuries hampered him throughout his Manchester City season. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia took third, the best of the lot in the Champions League, though he sadly missed the World Cup.

    Players without a national team to match their abilities can only win the Ballon d'Or in odd-numbered years.

    As for the rest of my choices, I picked Spain's Unai Simon as best goalkeeper and Paris Saint-Germain as best team. The best coach award went to Mikel Arteta. Arsenal winning the Premier League, 22 years after the Arsene Wenger era, was a wonderful homecoming.



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