Ballon d’Or: Five years after finishing ninth, Mbappé again faces criticism from Pascal Ferré

The 2026 Ballon d’Or will be awarded in London on October 26, and Pascal Ferré, who led the award from 1996 to 2023, does not expect Kylian Mbappé to win. Ferré argues that the winner should have secured either the World Cup or the Champions League and taken his team to a collective triumph; he also warns that public campaigning can irritate voters. In 2021, after Mbappé finished ninth, Ferré linked the result to his unsuccessful European Championship and missed penalty, while predicting he could improve on that ranking. This year, Ferré’s criticism focuses on Mbappé’s lack of a major title.