The top 30 candidates for the Ballon d’Or has been revealed, simultaneously giving fans a glimpse into who could win the trophy (and who got nominated based off of two games at the World Cup) but also effectively building the hype for the Ballon d’Or ceremony on October 26, 2026. Among the 30 candidates were 4 Bayern Munich players in Luis Díaz, Dayot Upamecano, Michael Olise and Harry Kane.
The two most tipped to win the award are the latter two, however, which is likely why Bayern head coach Vincent
Kompany chose the duo as his desired candidates to win the award:
“I want my players to be successful, so I’ll do what every other coach did, I’ll be 100% biased and will say that as long as Harry Kane or Michael Olise win it, then I’m happy,” the former RSC Anderlecht coach said after the 5-0 Champions League win over Bodø/Glimt (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “These guys were part of a team that scored 182 goals last season and won so many football matches. I don’t know if there was a team that scored more goals per game in the history of the top 5 leagues.”
But Kompany knows that individual achievements and domestic trophies are not the only criteria in the eyes of the voters. “The only thing you can debate is whether it [Ballon d’Or] is decided by the Champions League or not. We didn’t win the Champions League, so then you have to give everything to the players who won the Champions League. But if you look at 182 goals, 3.5 goals per game – that was these guys. These guys were also defending, making tackles on the edge of our box, creating from midfield. Maybe everything goes to the Champions League winner, then it’s just like that. But other than that there are teams who did something special that’s never been done before, and these players were part of that.”
Will those individual achievements be enough to see either of the two players win the popularity contest? Who knows? Bayern certainly have given it their all, as seemingly the entire front office has backed Kane to win the thing. But we will only know if either of the duo win it on October 26.
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