Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes the Ballon d’Or should go to Lamine Yamal. Speaking only days after France Football closed the official voting period for this season’s award, the former Barcelona and AC Milan striker made his position clear, distancing himself from Leo Messi — with whom he shares a history at Camp Nou — in favour of the young Barcelona winger.
The reasoning behind the Swede’s verdict is that the trophy should not be decided by the historical weight carried by a name, but by a player’s real ability to make the difference and settle matches at the elite level. On that measure, Ibrahimovic argued, Yamal has been the most decisive individual figure on the international stage, standing out both in domestic fixtures and in his appearances for the national team.
“The Ballon d’Or should be given to the player who truly makes the biggest difference individually; for me, Lamine Yamal did that and is the one who deserved it,” Ibrahimovic said, in remarks reported by the specialist outlet Sportskeeda and carried by international networks including FOX Sports and beIN Sports.
The intervention by the current AC Milan executive did not take long to stir the wider football debate over which criteria should carry most weight when judging the best player in the world. His pick runs against the predictions that place established figures such as Kylian Mbappé or Erling Haaland at the top of the running, and it places the Spanish winger at the centre of attention on the eve of the gala. Ibrahimovic is not alone in that view: other illustrious names in the game have pointed in the same direction during the final stretch of the voting, among them the former Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o, who has also described the Barcelona academy graduate as the most dazzling footballer around today.
Yamal himself has kept a measured tone amid the wave of praise from figures of that stature. In recent remarks to European media, the forward stressed that his absolute priority remains collective growth and day-to-day work, regardless of the media debates building ahead of the France Football ceremony.
With the voting formally closed and the envelopes sealed, the identity of the next winner of the golden ball is drawing closer to being revealed, and Ibrahimovic’s words have only added to the anticipation surrounding a ceremony that could leave its mark on recent football history.