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Croatia’s representative voter for this year’s Ballon d’Or sprung a major surprise in leaving Barcelona star Lamine Yamal out of his final top-10.
The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony of course took place in the English capital of London yesterday evening. When all was said and done, it was Bayern Munich frontman Harry Kane who was honoured with the title of world football’s best player for the last 12 months.
Kane was followed in 2nd by Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé, with the aforementioned Lamine Yamal having rounded out the podium in 3rd.
As alluded to above, though, in the eyes of one journalist, the 19-year-old was not deserving of a place anywhere close to the top of the ‘Golden Ball’ shortlist.
With the dust having now settled on Monday’s gala, the selections of each media member afforded the honour of voting status for the Ballon d’Or have been revealed.
And the picks of Croatia’s representative have since turned heads, with Zdravko Reić having not even had room for Lamine Yamal in his final top-10.
Reić’s bizarre final votes were made up as follows:
- Rodri
- Erling Haaland
- Lionel Messi
- Ferran Torres
- Kylian Mbappe
- Harry Kane
- Pau Cubarsí
- Vitinha
- Ousmane Dembele
- Jude Bellingham
Conor Laird – GSFN
