Ballon d'Or 2024: The Race for Best Player in the World
The crown of “best player on the planet” usually lands on the head of the man holding a World Cup or a Champions League trophy. In a World Cup year, it tends to feel non-negotiable. This time, though, the picture is crowded, the narratives tangled, and some of the loudest voices in the game are pointing away from the obvious names.
Spain’s triumph in North America has pushed their stars right into the Ballon d’Or spotlight. Rodri, already the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, stands there again, the metronome and muscle of a side that conquered the world. Alongside him, the phenomenon that is Lamine Yamal, now his team-mate at Barcelona, looks ready to crash the grown-ups’ party. A global title, a starring role, and a club platform built for superstardom: it is all there for the teenager.
Harry Kane has stacked up numbers that would normally blow the debate apart. Sixty-one goals for Bayern as they marched to another Bundesliga crown is a haul that belongs to the realm of video games. Yet the one line missing from his résumé still matters. No Champions League in 2026. No defining European night to tilt the vote his way.
Paris Saint-Germain did what Bayern could not. Back-to-back Champions League titles, a statement of dominance from a club that has long craved exactly this kind of authority. That run has launched Ousmane Dembele into the Golden Ball conversation and thrown open the door for others at Parc des Princes to stake their claim. When you are the face of a team that owns Europe, the Ballon d’Or often follows.
Bacary Sagna, though, sees the race differently.
The former Arsenal, Manchester City and France defender believes the spotlight should swing away from the usual suspects. Speaking to GOAL, he acknowledged Kylian Mbappe’s status among the elite but pushed another name to the front of the queue.
“For me the best at the minute, he's in the top three,” Sagna said of Mbappe. “He had an amazing year and he is for me one of the best. But being a striker gives more chances to score, so more chances for the people to look at him favourably.”
Then he delivered the twist.
“For me, Kvara deserves the Ballon d'Or. For me, Kvara [Khvicha Kvaratskhelia] has been phenomenal and being a winger and having such an impact and successful campaign. Apart from winning the Champions League, I think football players will agree that Kvara was the most important player last season.”
That is a bold line in an era dominated by pure goalscoring numbers. Sagna is not blind to Mbappe’s brilliance. He praised the forward’s World Cup exploits, his avalanche of goals, his explosive start to the current campaign.
“Of course Kylian had an amazing World Cup and I was pleased to see him scoring so many goals, not only because he's French but because I love football and when I see him shining the way he's starting the season, that's his standard, that's his level and he is in the top few players,” Sagna said. “He might be the the top, the best player in the world, but the problem is how impactful were you for your team last season?”
That question hangs heavily over Real Madrid.
For all the fanfare around Mbappe’s arrival and his status as a modern Galactico, the club have now gone two seasons without a major trophy. The Frenchman has done his part in front of goal: two La Liga Golden Boots, 90 goals in 106 appearances. Those are numbers that usually come attached to silverware and individual honours. Here, they sit under a harsher light.
The Ballon d’Or voters have not fully bought in yet either. Mbappe has only cracked the top three once. For a player of his profile, that feels like an anomaly.
Louis Saha, another former France international, understands the tension. He knows what Mbappe is chasing and what it will take to get there.
“That's a difficult one, because for sure he wants to win those trophies,” Saha told GOAL when asked if Mbappe will finally get his hands on the Ballon d’Or. “He knows that by winning the Champions League, you have a greater chance to win the Ballon d'Or. He knows that that's the way to put all the qualities in front of the best eyes to be judged.”
The pressure, Saha says, is no longer just about performance. It is about narrative.
“I do understand that the pressure is on because now it's been almost a very controversial way of not being in those finals. He left the club that won it and now going to a club which is supposed to be one of the favourites, and they don't reach the finals.”
That storyline has started to take on a life of its own. Mbappe, the man who moves clubs to chase the biggest nights, keeps watching those nights belong to someone else.
“It's starting to question a little bit on the personal side,” Saha admitted. “Let's say on the spiritual side, he seems to be a black cat in a way. So that's the bad line that he wants to rectify as quickly as possible.”
Saha still believes the destination is within reach. He sees a player built for the biggest stages, even if the trophies have not yet fallen into line.
“It's always nice to see someone succeed and reach their goals when they have the potential. I think he deserves it. Regardless of people criticising his style of play, he wants to have everything.
“Every situation needs to be about him and that's the proof of greats. But sometimes if things don’t work out, it's easy to criticise. If Cristiano couldn't convert all these trophies that he had over the years, he would have been doomed a long time ago.”
That is the crux of this Ballon d’Or race. Rodri with a World Cup and a Ballon d’Or already in his pocket. Yamal exploding into superstardom. Kane with a mountain of goals but no European crown. Dembele and his PSG team-mates riding a wave of continental dominance. Kvaratskhelia, the players’ player in Sagna’s eyes.
And Mbappe, still chasing the one season where everything finally aligns.
