The verdict is in. Monday evening, Harry Kane was crowned Ballon d’Or 2026 during the ceremony organized at the London Palladium in London, in front of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal. The English striker’s victory rewards a stratospheric year in statistical terms, with 73 goals scored in 65 matches (all club and national competitions combined).
Since the announcement of the big winner, certain journalists who are members of the Ballon d’Or jury have begun to publicly reveal their vote. This is the case of Zdravko Reic, representative of Croatia, who shared his entire Top 10. And he is sure to surprise!
The Croatian placed Rodri in the lead, then Erling Haaland (2nd), Lionel Messi (3rd), Ferran Torres (4th), Kylian Mbappé (5th), Harry Kane (6th), Pau Cubarsi (7th), Vitinha (8th), Ousmane Dembélé (9th) and Jude Bellingham (10th). None of the first three in the official ranking (Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal) are therefore on their podium, while Lamine Yamal is not even in their Top 10.
“I was wrong to rank Kane so low”
In the columns of the Croatian media Vecernji list, Zdravko Reic justified his choices. “My criteria are: 2026 was the year of the World Cup. And based on that, the results and performances of the players during this World Cup automatically determined my vote. Everything else, the Champions League and all other competitions, takes a back seat. This is how I see things”he explained.
By deciding to base ourselves mainly on performances at the World Cup, we better understand the first place of Rodri, voted best player of the World Cup, as well as those of Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Ferran Torres. “I ranked Erling Haaland in second place because he achieved an excellent result with Norway during the World Cup (…) and I wanted to pay tribute to the Norwegians, who brought a breath of fresh air to this World Cup. In third place, I ranked Lionel Messi, because Argentina reached the World Cup final, and it was Messi who led his team to that final. I ranked Ferran Torres fourth because he scored a wonderful goal in the World Cup final,” he justified.
Concerning the sixth place he awarded to Harry Kane, the Croatian journalist admitted an error. “I must now admit that it was a mistake. I have to admit that I was wrong to rank Kane so low.”admitted Zdravko Reic, who on the other hand accepts his choice to remove Lamine Yamal from the Top 10:
“I didn’t include him in the list because he arrived injured at the World Cup, didn’t play much and his contribution, compared to other players on the Spanish national team, was minimal, if not negligible. He played only a minor role in Spain’s victories at this World Cup. »
