By vote: Koooora editors choose the Ballon d'Or winner

The Ballon d'Or, presented by France Football magazine, ranks among the most prestigious individual awards in football. It commands exceptional standing among players and fans alike, and its results serve each year as a barometer for how the game's leading stars are rated.

Goals and titles alone don't decide the winner. Voters weigh individual performance, a player's contributions to his team, collective achievements and the overall image he projects across the period under assessment, in line with the award's criteria.

Monday's announcement is almost upon us, and the argument over who deserves the crown is only heating up. Tastes and judgements vary wildly between voters, even when they follow the same competitions and work from the same facts.

Koooora's editors' vote drew on 15 journalists, each picking three players in order, from first to third.

The three places carried the same point weightings used in the Ballon d'Or system, keeping the comparison consistent with the main award: 15 points for first place, 12 points for second place, and 10 points for third place.

Winning, then, did not hinge on how often a player topped the vote, but on the total points he gathered across the ballots.

A player could build a clear advantage in the second and third-place picks and lift his final tally, even without leading the first-place count.

The system turned the editors' choices into a clear numerical ranking. It reflected the preferences of the group as a whole, rather than simply counting who came top.

The results showed a disparity between the candidates who received points in the vote.

Lamine Yamal topped the list of those placed first after seven editors picked him for the top spot. Harry Kane cropped up most often in second place, and that boosted his overall tally.

Kylian Mbappé held firm among the leading contenders, his cause helped by the spread of votes he picked up across the top three places.

Lionel Messi, by contrast, featured in the selections of several editors. Kvaratskhelia and Fabián Ruiz collected fewer points, according to the final order of the vote.

Lamine Yamal settled the vote among Kooora's editors, collecting 195 points to finish ahead of Harry Kane on 162. Kylian Mbappé took third place with 116.

Fourth went to Lionel Messi with 45 points, Kvaratskhelia came fifth on 22, and Fabián Ruiz sixth with 15.

Yamal's edge came from topping the first-place selections, backed by a strong haul of second and third-place votes.

This result reflects only the opinions of those who took part in the website's poll. It carries no official weight and settles nothing about who actually wins the Ballon d'Or.

The official announcement will end the speculation and reveal the name set to collect the award.

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