Harry Kane may have walked away with the 2026 Ballon d'Or, but the breakdown of the vote laid bare a string of controversial picks and surprises. International journalists split sharply on how they rated the world's leading stars, with some even leaving prominent names out of their top 10 altogether.
France Football magazine lifted the lid on how all 100 journalists cast their ballots. Kane finished with 1,055 points, just 28 clear of France's Kylian Mbappé on 1,027. Spain's Lamine Yamal took third with 881 points, and his compatriot Rodri rounded off the top four.
One of the strangest ballots came from the Greek journalist. He put Georgia's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia top, ahead of Rodri and Willian Pacho, and parked Kane down in seventh. Mbappé, Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé never made his top 10 at all.
The Ukrainian journalist went his own way too, handing his first-place vote to Spain's Fabián Ruiz, ahead of Pau Cubarsí and Kvaratskhelia. Mbappé didn't feature at all. Yamal came seventh and Kane ninth.
Curaçao delivered another twist. Its journalist stood alone in placing Michael Olise at the summit of his picks.
Countries leaving Kane and Yamal out of their calculations
Neither the Ivorian nor the Mexican journalist found room for Kane in their top 10. Yamal fared even worse, vanishing entirely from the lists of several nations, most notably Cameroon, Croatia and Belarus.
Cameroon and the Czech Republic dropped the English striker all the way to tenth. Croatian journalist Zdravko Reić went for Rodri first, then Norway's Erling Haaland and Argentina's Lionel Messi, slotting Kane sixth and leaving Yamal out of his top 10 completely.
The Croatian journalist apologises for his ranking
Reić later admitted he'd got the Kane ranking wrong. He stood firm, though, on snubbing the young Barcelona star, arguing he hadn't been decisive enough at the World Cup.
National and regional loyalties clearly swayed plenty of the choices. Greece and Georgia were the only two countries to put Kvaratskhelia top.
Over in Colombia, journalist Pachi Andrade stirred up a storm by lavishing attention on his compatriot Luis Díaz, alongside Willian Pacho and Julián Quiñones. His top three, though, still read Kane, Rodri and Mbappé.
Elsewhere, Vietnam backed Rodri for his World Cup showing, while Ecuador leaned heavily towards the French, naming Mbappé, Olise and Dembélé among its top four.
For all the scattered opinions, Kane sealed the award by 28 points over Mbappé. It was a tight finish that captured just how divided the voters were on who truly deserved to be crowned.