Ranking the 10 currently active footballers destined to win the Ballon d’Or: Mbappe, Yamal… | OneFootball

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the Ballon d’Or for years. But which of today’s superstars will follow in their footsteps?

The Ballon d’Or remains football’s most coveted individual prize, a level of prestige that only a select few ever reach. Among today’s elite performers, several active stars appear destined to eventually lift France Football’s golden trophy.

Here are the 10 currently active footballers who look most likely to one day get their hands on the Ballon d’Or:

10. Declan Rice

Imagine someone telling you 10 years ago that Arsenal and England would provide a player a solid platform for a Ballon d’Or campaign.

The banter era looks well and truly over on both fronts, with the Gunners and Three Lions looking more than capable of finally winning the biggest honours.

Should England win the World Cup, and/or Arsenal the Champions League, there’ll be a relatively open field of candidates from both squads.

But right now Rice is certainly looking one of the leading lights, arguably the best centre-mid in world football right now.

“I hope so! That would mean that we have won a lot, because normally it is related to that,” Mikel Arteta recently told reporters, on the prospect of Rice winning the Golden Ball.

“He was immense the other day, he’s been immense since the start of the season, and he’s an incredible and crucial player for us.”

9. Raphinha

You get the feeling that last season was the Brazilian’s big shot at the big prize. Who knows what might have happened if Barca had made it over the line in last season’s Champions League semi-final?

It’s difficult to imagine him replicating those otherworldly numbers from 2024-25, while Hansi Flick’s dysfunctional Barcelona don’t look like challenging for the Champions League again any time soon.

Still, Raphinha has demonstrated in the recent past that he’s capable of a Ballon d’Or-worthy season.

And Barcelona and Brazil aren’t exactly total outsiders for the biggest prizes. Don’t write him off.

8. Desire Doue

Amazingly, you have to go back 20 years – Lionel Messi in 2005 – to find the last winner of Tuttosport’s Golden Boy award who went on to lift the Ballon d’Or.

If you want to feel really old, the 2006 winner went on to make over 700 professional appearances and is now one of Europe’s top young coaches.

So not every talented youngster is destined to reach the game’s absolute zenith, but we can’t see two players dominating the award like the last two decades.

The field looks a bit more open going forward, as evidenced by four different winners in the last four years.

The 2025 Golden Boy winner arguably lacks the outrageous star power he’ll likely need, but he’s certainly on the right path. Two goals and an assist in a Champions League final at the age of 19 is a testament to that.

7. Jude Bellingham

The midfielder became the first Englishman to make the Ballon d’Or podium in 19 years, since Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in 2005, after shining in Real Madrid’s 2024 Champions League and La Liga double.

Third place might’ve been as close as he gets. If Real Madrid or England win the big one, you suspect it’ll go to their free-scoring strikers.

Not necessarily, though. Bellingham possesses the kind of aura and talismanic star quality to make himself the headline-maker.

6. Pedri

We’ve recently seen one Spanish midfielder get their hands on the biggest prize for his all-conquering, tempo-setting displays on the international stage.

Why not another?

At his best, Pedri gives Rice a run for his money as the best centre-mid in Europe. Yamal might get the attention, but there’s a valid argument that Pedri is Spain and Barcelona’s best, most important player.

La Roja look like a serious force when it comes to the World Cup next year. Produce his best football on the biggest stage, and a #Pedri2026 campaign might just pick up some steam.

And at just 23, he’ll have plenty more opportunities to stake his claim if not next year.

5. Harry Kane

England’s captain might not have time on his side, but he certainly has the platform.

His outrageous domestic exploits in Germany will likely be overlooked, in all honesty, but Vincent Kompany has turned Bayern Munich back into serious contenders, while Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions could well achieve something special out in the United States.

If he can keep up his scoring rate, notching important goals in the biggest stages, he’ll have every chance.

It probably has to be 2026, but we can easily see him emulating Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo to keep thriving well into his thirties.

4. Estevao

At the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, we’re fully buying into the Estevao hype.

Admittedly, the forward’s meek display at Elland Road and relatively ordinary numbers in the Premier League so far are evidence he isn’t yet a fully-fledged world-beater.

Unlike Lamine Yamal, he isn’t shredding defences week in, week out just yet. But Yamal is the exception to the rule. Not even Messi or Ronaldo were doing that at 18.

It’s easy to forget this is Estevao’s first six months in a new league, and a new continent, but he’s already shown more than enough flashes that he possesses everything in his locker to go right to the very top.

3. Erling Haaland

Break things down to pure goalscoring numbers alone and Haaland will surely get his hands on one, sooner or later, just by the law of averages.

The Norwegian is looking more devastatingly unstoppable in front of goal as time goes on.

Now he’s fired Norway to the World Cup and look like cementing themselves as your classic ‘dark horses’ in future tournaments, if qualifying was anything to go by.

But if we’re being completely honest, Norway probably won’t be making it to the latter stages. That means one out of every two years he’ll likely find himself overshadowed.

Haaland scored 52 goals and won the treble with Manchester City in 2022-23, but that happened to be the year Messi won the World Cup. Therein lies Haaland’s problem.

2. Lamine Yamal

Eighteen years of age. It’s useful to remind yourself of that now and again.

He’s already one of the very best footballers on the planet. The shining star of one of Europe’s biggest clubs in Barcelona and a traditional international powerhouse in Spain.

We’d be amazed if he doesn’t get his hands on it at some point. But look at Neymar. Things don’t necessarily always work out how you expect them to in football.

1. Kylian Mbappe

…and look at Mbappe.

We could have written that exact entry above, about Mbappe, back in 2017.

The World Cup, a dream move to Real Madrid, and well over 400 career goals have followed. And yet, over eight years from first bursting onto the scene, Mbappe still awaits the Ballon d’Or.

He’s been in the conversation as the best footballer in the world for a long time, and right now his claim is as strong as ever.

That could well be enough, but he still likely requires the Champions League and/or another major international trophy to be recognised by the France Football voters.