Lionel Messi has already won it twice and is joint-top of the ranking for the Golden Ball in 2026.
The Real Ronado, Zinedine Zidane, Diego Forlan and of course Lionel Messi are among the past winners of the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player at the World Cup.
We bring you the odds for the 2026 edition, courtesy of Oddschecker.
9=) Several contenders at 33/1
Vitinha, Declan Rice, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele are all in with an outside shot.
8) Bruno Fernandes (Portugal)
At the peak of his powers after clean-sweeping the Premier League awards following his record-breaking 21-assist season and it’s all too easy to imagine him putting several balls on plates for the old man up top to bundle home.
6=) Erling Haaland (Norway)
Enters the betting after a double in Norway’s opening game to remind everybody that he is one of the best goalscorers in the world.
6=) Vinicius Junior (Brazil)
A difficult season for Real Madrid for a whole host of reasons and yet Vinicius still managed 22 goals and 14 assists.
He’s presumably looking forward to a summer back playing under Carlo Ancelotti ahead of what will either be a sickening bromance or a blazing war with Jose Mourinho depending on which Galactico the Portuguese boss decides to make an example of at the Bernabeu.
He was the first superstar out of the gates with a brilliant goal v Morocco.
4=) Lamine Yamal (Spain)
He won the Young Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024 and is the clear favourite to win the same award at the World Cup while now making himself favourite to win the bigger boys’ gong. At 18 he has won three La Liga titles with Barcelona to go with his European Championship with Spain. He’s a freak. But he could do very little against Cape Verde.
4=) Harry Kane (England)
Plenty of tournament goals, including Golden Boots at the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2024, and a couple of finals, but never the twain shall meet. A game-winning goal in the World Cup final after 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern and surely the Ballon d’Or would be his too.
3) Michael Olise (France)
Having seen Olise destroy left-backs across Europe this term on his way to 53 goal contributions in 52 games for Bayern Munich it’s mad to think that at the age of 22 – yet to be capped by France – he was sat at home watching Les Bleus lose to Spain in the semi-finals of Euro 2024.
A hat-trick v Northern Ireland in a pre-World Cup friendly has seen his odds tumble, and of course he added an assist in France’s opening game of World Cup 2026.
2) Lionel Messi (Argentina)
The holder of the Golden Ball after driving Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup with seven goals and three assists, and he’s back again at the age of 38. And immediately scored a bloody hat-trick.
1) Kylian Mbappe (France)
It is objectively funny that in the two seasons since leaving Paris Saint-Germain for Real Madrid, PSG have won two Champions Leagues and Los Blancos have won diddly squat, but Mbappe has also scored a ridiculous 86 goals in that time and you would be daft to bet against a guy playing in a wonderful France team who’s already scored an actual hat-trick in a World Cup final. And then a double in the opening game of the 2026 World Cup.
