UAE Voters Put Messi First in 2026 Ballon d'Or Ballot
Journalists from six countries, including the UAE, ranked Lionel Messi first, but he finished fifth overall in the 2026 Ballon d'Or vote.
France Football released the voting breakdown, which showed that journalists from the UAE, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China and Panama placed the Inter Miami forward at the top of their ballots. Each first-place vote earned him 15 points, bringing his final total to 612.
In the 2025-26 MLS season, Messi scored 29 goals and provided 15 assists in 34 appearances for Inter Miami. He also scored eight goals and recorded four assists for Argentina at the 2026 World Cup, where the defending champions reached the final. These performances were not enough to secure the individual award.
Harry Kane won the award with 1,055 points, ahead of Kylian Mbappe on 1,027, Lamine Yamal on 881 and Rodri on 726. Kane's win ended Messi's hopes of adding to his record eight Ballon d'Or titles. Messi last won the award in 2023, after the World Cup in Qatar.