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Ballon d’Or 2026: London already believes in Harry Kane
The bookmakers’ odds-on favourite, Harry Kane has landed in London with the Bayern delegation hours before the ceremony. The English press is making his case, while franceinfo still calls the race wide open.
by Lucas Morel · 2 min read
The Bayern delegation has landed in London a few hours before the ceremony: Harry Kane, with Michael Olise, Luis Díaz, Dayot Upamecano and Lennart Karl, arrived in the capital according to Foot Mercato, relaying German journalist Kerry Hau of Sky Sport Deutschland. Olise is on the shortlist himself. The city hosting the 70th ceremony at the London Palladium is waiting for one name.
In the English press, the case is pleaded rather than debated. Sky Sports has Kane as the bookmakers’ odds-on favourite, a price now below even money, and Jamie Carragher credits him with 73 goals this season; franceinfo counts 70, the best total of the campaign. Add the Bundesliga title and England considers the argument closed. “At 33, Harry Kane is probably coming off the best season of his career,” says a pundit heard on franceinfo.
The conviction goes beyond the newsrooms. “He has won everything, he has smashed goalscoring records. He has swept the lot. He just hasn’t won the World Cup,” a London supporter told franceinfo. The counterweight is French: for franceinfo, the race remains wide open, and five Frenchmen sit on the 30-man shortlist (Dembélé, Mbappé, Olise, Saliba, Upamecano).
The market has moved, the vote has not
The odds have had one final gallop: Mbappé has overtaken Yamal in the betting after a late surge of money, and Kane has nobody left in his wake. Yet the vote has been in the ballot box for weeks. The money arriving now says nothing about the poll; it measures expectation in the corridors and the lobbies.
Behind the favourite, the other files still carry weight: Ousmane Dembélé defends his title, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia arrives as the best player of the last Champions League, and Fabian Ruiz with a World Cup, a Champions League and a Ligue 1 in his luggage.
The bettor has nothing to learn from these late moves: a price that shifts after the vote has closed is a mood gauge, not information. The winner’s name is expected tonight at the London Palladium. 18+. Only bet what you can afford to lose.