Vietnam’s vote partly helps Kane pull off dramatic Ballon d’Or comeback over Mbappé: insider

Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, the French football magazine that awards the Ballon d'Or, revealed that Kane apparently edged out rival Mbappe by the narrowest of margins in the race for the 2026 Ballon d'Or.

Speaking to French newspaper L’Équipe after the awards ceremony, Garcia disclosed that only a few votes separated the Bayern Munich striker and the Real Madrid forward.

Mbappe had led the voting for much of the process, Garcia said.

However, as the results came in, Kane gradually closed the gap before overtaking his rival to secure the overall victory.

Garcia emphasized just how close the contest had been, revealing that the gap was even smaller than in the previous closest result, in 2024.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri beat Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior by just 41 points that year.

“The battle for first place was incredibly close between Kane and Mbappe this year,” Garcia said.

The revelation has attracted considerable attention, particularly because this year’s award was decided by a panel of 100 journalists, each representing a country ranked among FIFA’s top 100 national teams.

Each journalist was required to select 10 players from a shortlist of 30 nominees.

Points were awarded on a descending scale of 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

Votes are normally counted in alphabetical order according to the names of the football associations represented by the participating journalists.

With the Vietnam Football Federation starting with a 'V', its ballot was among the last to be processed.

Following the Ballon d’Or gala, Vietnam’s voting representative, journalist Truong Anh Ngoc, disclosed his selections on social media.

Ngoc awarded the maximum 15 points to Rodri, followed by Lionel Messi with 12 points, Kane with 10, Lamine Yamal with eight and Mbappe with seven.

Vietnam’s representative ranked Kane above Mbappe, giving the Bayern Munich striker a three-point advantage over the French forward on his ballot.

Under France Football’s regulations, the 2026 Ballon d’Or was voted on by international sports journalists from countries whose national teams ranked within FIFA’s top 100 at the time the nominees were announced.

The rankings were assessed on September 8, when the shortlist was unveiled.

Vietnam occupied 99th place in the FIFA world rankings at the time, making the country eligible to participate in the voting.

Alphabetically last, barely qualified, but undeniably decisive -- Vietnam's vote couldn't have picked a more dramatic way to make its mark on the 2026 Ballon d'Or.