Four days before the 26 October ceremony, former Morocco international Mustapha Hadji has delivered his personal Top 5, with Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal at the top ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane.
The 70th Ballon d’Or ceremony will be held on Monday 26 October at the London Palladium in London. The first votes are already known. AfricaFoot asked five leading African figures to give their personal Top 5. Mustapha Hadji, a legend and former Morocco international, 1998 African Ballon d’Or winner and 64 caps (12 goals) for Morocco, revealed his ranking on 22 October 2026.
Top of his Top 5 is Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona and Spain forward. He is followed by Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid, France), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, England), Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. This is his personal opinion: the winner will be named at the official ceremony.
Yamal, “makes me love football”
To explain his choice, the former Morocco international points to the young Spaniard’s 2025/26 season, crowned with La Liga and the 2026 World Cup. “He’s a player who, when I watch him play, makes me love football. What Lamine Yamal is achieving at his age is exceptional, and he will keep improving,” Hadji told AfricaFoot.
The Moroccan, however, plays down the significance of Yamal’s World Cup: “In the 2025/26 season, he won the Spanish league and above all the World Cup, even if he didn’t have an extraordinary tournament.” That reservation does not stop the Barcelona forward from keeping first place in his vote.
Mbappé and Kane, goals in abundance
Behind Yamal, Hadji places Kylian Mbappé, scorer of 58 goals in the 2025/2026 campaign according to Foot Africa and AfricaFoot. The Real Madrid forward comes ahead of Harry Kane, third, who totalled 73 goals in all competitions last season with Bayern Munich.
Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia complete the ranking: Ousmane Dembélé is 4th, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia 5th.
A series of African votes
In this series of votes, Hadji follows Patrick Mboma and Rabah Madjer, who spoke in the previous days, AfricaFoot reports.
On the honours front, the former Morocco international notably won the Portuguese Super Cup with Sporting in 1997 and the Intertoto Cup in 2001 with Aston Villa, according to the same source.