Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has reacted on social media after finishing third in the 2026 Ballon d’Or, behind Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé, at a ceremony held at the London Palladium on Monday, 26 October.
Yamal, who turned 19 in July, had been among the favourites after winning the World Cup with Spain and La Liga with Barcelona. He did not speak on the night, and waited until the following day to respond with a post on his own Instagram account, alongside photographs from the gala.
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Translated from Spanish, the message read:
“It will come, good things take time, I trust the path I’m building. Without a hurry, with excitement and with tranquility that someday my time will come.”
“Congratulations to the winners, my focus is again on what’s important, to make FC Barcelona win again.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta told Mundo Deportivo that Lamine Yamal deserved the award for his individual talent and the trophies he had won, and said the club would support him in trying to win it next year. He said Yamal was very disappointed and that Barcelona had known nothing in advance, with the organisers keeping the result secret.
Yamal did leave with something: the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best young men’s player, for a third successive year. He had won it in 2024 and 2025, and SPORT reported that he beat Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí by just two votes.
The result follows a top-10 finish in 2024 and a runner-up place behind Ousmane Dembélé in 2025, when he won his second Kopa Trophy. Rodri was fourth this time and Lionel Messi, 39, fifth.
Goals, assists and a World Cup: the numbers behind Lamine Yamal’s third-place Ballon d’Or finish
The statistical case was strong. Across the 2025-26 season, including the World Cup, Lamine Yamal recorded 25 goals and 20 assists in 57 matches for club and country, according to the award’s candidate figures. For Barcelona alone, he scored 24 goals and provided 18 assists.
In La Liga he scored 16 goals and set up 12 as Barcelona won the title and the Spanish Super Cup, and he was named the division’s player of the season.
He started seven of Spain’s eight matches at the World Cup and finished with one goal and one assist, as Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final.
Vincent Garcia, the France Football editor-in-chief, told L’Equipe (via beIN SPORTS) he believed there was a split in the Spanish vote and that Rodri “took votes away” from Lamine Yamal.
Edited by Vignesh Raja
