Kane secured 1,055 points against Mbappé’s 1,027, with Yamal finishing third on 881.
The England striker received 40 first-place votes, compared with 23 for the French forward. Yet neither the final standings nor the distribution of votes tells the whole story: several jurors omitted one or more of the three leading players from their rankings.

Despite winning the award, Kane did not feature in two ballots. Ivory Coast’s Adam Khalil placed Mbappé first, followed by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Erling Haaland. Mexico’s Salvador Aguilera ranked Yamal first, ahead of Fabián Ruiz and Mbappé.

The omissions were particularly striking given Kane’s overall consistency: the eventual winner appeared in 98 of the 100 jurors’ top 10s.

Three jurors excluded Kylian Mbappé

Mbappé was omitted from the top 10s of Scotland’s John Greechan, Ukraine’s Igor Linnyk and Greece’s Manos Staramopoulos.

Greechan placed Kane first, followed by Yamal and Rodri. Linnyk opted for Fabián Ruiz at the top of his ranking, ahead of Pau Cubarsí and Kvaratskhelia. Kane, however, still featured in the Ukrainian juror’s top 10, finishing ninth.

The Greek juror also left out Yamal. Staramopoulos ranked Kvaratskhelia first, followed by Rodri and Willian Pacho. Marc Cucurella and João Neves completed his top five, while Kane finished seventh. Neither Mbappé nor Yamal made his top 10.

Lamine Yamal also missed out on four ballots

The Barcelona forward was omitted by jurors from Belarus, Cameroon, Croatia and Greece. The Greek vote was therefore the only one of the four to exclude both Yamal and Mbappé.

Lionel Messi topped the Belarusian ranking, while the Croatian juror placed Rodri first. The Cameroonian ballot also left Yamal out of the top 10, favouring Mbappé instead.

The individual ballots reveal how differently members of the international jury assessed the contenders. While Kane emerged as the winner, the voting breakdown highlights the contrasting preferences of jurors across the 100 countries represented, including several rankings that diverged sharply from the final podium.

The figures underline the contrasting patterns behind the final result. Kane was named first by more jurors than any other player, while Mbappé and Yamal also attracted first-place votes. But the individual ballots reveal how differently members of the international jury assessed the contenders, with some rankings diverging sharply from the eventual top three.