# How Close Mbappe Yamal Came to Beating Kane in 2026 Ballon d'Or

> Kane narrowly beat Mbappé and Yamal for 2026 Ballon d'Or with a tiny point gap.
- Title: How Close Mbappe Yamal Came to Beating Kane in 2026 Ballon…
- Summary: Kane narrowly beat Mbappé and Yamal for 2026 Ballon d'Or with a tiny point gap. Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or after a tight race with Kylian Mbappé and…
- Keywords: harry kane, kylian mbappe, lamine yamal, 2026 ballon dor, france football, ballon dor voting, fifa, voting points, sports, Close, Mbappe, Yamal
- Source: SI — https://si.com/soccer/how-close-mbappe-yamal-came-beating-kane-2026-ballon-dor
- Published: 2026-10-27T15:00:02+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: harry kane, kylian mbappe, lamine yamal, 2026 ballon dor, france football, ballon dor voting, fifa, voting points, sports
## 2026 Ballon d'Or Results
France Football will publish detailed 2026 Ballon d'Or vote results on Saturday.
## Close Race Among Top Three
The editor-in-chief said the 2026 Ballon d'Or race was closer than anyone realized.
## Harry Kane Wins
Harry Kane collected the 2026 Ballon d'Or, breaking a 25-year English winner drought.
## Kane's Qualifications
Kane earned the award for his goalscoring feats with Bayern Munich and England in 2025-26.
## Mbappé and Yamal Contenders
Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal finished second and third in the 2026 Ballon d'Or voting.
## Initial Voting Trend
The jury initially backed Mbappé but Kane came back strongly to win the award.
## Tiny Point Gap
The gap between Kane and Mbappé was extremely small, less than Rodri and Vinícius Jr's 2024 gap of 41 points.
## 2024 Voting Points
Rodri won 1,170 points in 2024, with Vinícius Jr at 1,129 and Jude Bellingham third with 917.
## 2025 Voting Points
Ousmane Dembélé won 1,380 points in 2025, over 300 more than Yamal's 1,080.
## Voting System Change
The voting system changed in 2024 to select a top 10 with 15 points for the first choice.
## Spanish Players in Voting
Six Spanish players were in the 2026 Ballon d'Or shortlist, all finishing inside the top 18.
## Yamal's Spanish Voting Issue
Garcia believes Rodri split votes among Spanish players, costing Yamal points in the 2026 Ballon d'Or.
## Key takeaway

Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or after a tight race with Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal.