Nominees for the Ballon d'Or have flooded the media with statements, and clubs have launched campaigns to promote their players in the hope of landing the prestigious award.
With the media campaign for the various nominees intensifying, some members of the Ballon d'Or jury have agreed to speak publicly.
Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé have dominated the conversation in recent days, alongside Kvaratskhelia, Harry Kane and Ousmane Dembélé. Some have declared their right to win the Ballon d'Or. Others earned nominations from fellow stars.
Unprecedented media buzz
Three criteria decide who wins the Ballon d'Or: individual performance and a decisive, influential personality, team performance and a distinguished record, plus integrity and fair play.
Some nominees may not meet that third condition, but let us move on. The key is to convince the 100 members of the jury of the nominee's right to win the award.
One journalist per country makes up the jury, specifically the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking.
The newspaper "Le Parisien" contacted a number of jury members, none of whom wished to appear in the media.
Yazid Ouahib, the jury member representing Algeria, agreed to discuss this strange race for the 2026 Ballon d'Or. Ouahib said: "I have been a member of the jury since 2007, and I must say that over the past two years we have witnessed electoral campaigns the like of which we had never seen before. All these interviews, all these comments, are nothing but a distraction that does not affect my vote."
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He continued: "Things are heating up, but this does not change anything. We follow these events from a distance. I cannot speak on behalf of my colleagues, but I believe that all of this should not affect their vote. In the end, it comes down to conscience."
An ineffective strategy
His Swedish counterpart, Anders Bengtsson, insisted the repeated statements from the favourites had not swayed him.
He said: "These campaigns do not affect me at all. It is not impossible that they influence some voters. If I were undecided between players, some statistics or arguments might tip the balance in favour of one of them. But that would only happen if I had not thought carefully before casting my vote."
Pascal Ferré, the former editor-in-chief of "France Football" magazine who voted for France for seven years, also criticised the communication strategy of the past few days.
He said: "The jury members are not naive. They have enough experience and conscience to judge and evaluate a player without needing to hear the phrase: he is the best, ten or 15 times."
He continued: "When I say that the Ballon d'Or winner may get lost amid the media noise, I mean it when he crudely dominates the conversation and makes the jury members feel that they are being put under pressure. This buzz orchestrated by some may ultimately annoy the voters, because it is clear manipulation."
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