Mbappé second, Yamal third and a record Kopa: LaLiga's night at the Ballon d'Or

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé finished second and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal third as Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or at the London Palladium on Monday. LaLiga still left with two trophies: a record third straight Kopa Trophy for Yamal and the Yashin Trophy for Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simón.

Mbappé's closest miss

Mbappé has never come closer. Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, which runs the award, said after the gala that the gap between Kane and Mbappé was smaller than the 41 points that separated Manchester City's Rodri and Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior in 2024. He did not give the final figure. "Mbappé was leading for a long time, but Kane ended up winning," Garcia said, as reported by El Español. Second place is the best finish of the Frenchman's career in the vote.

He travelled to London on the back of the Clásico, Real Madrid vs Barcelona: on Sunday he scored both goals in Madrid's 2-1 win at Barcelona. Our data has him on 11 LaLiga goals this season, two behind Barcelona's Raphinha at the top of the scoring chart.

Yamal drops one place

Yamal, runner-up in 2025, slipped to third. Garcia put part of that down to votes being split between Spain's world champions: "Rodri took some votes off Lamine in this particular vote." Rodri finished fourth, Inter Miami's Lionel Messi fifth.

At 19, Yamal has eight goals and six assists in LaLiga this season, more assists than Raphinha (three) or Mbappé (two).

A Kopa nobody had won three times running

Yamal did not leave empty-handed. He won the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player for the third year in a row, after 2024 and 2025; Relevo notes that no one had won it three years running before. His Barcelona team-mate Pau Cubarsí finished second and Paris Saint-Germain's Warren Zaïre-Emery third. Yamal used his speech to point at Cubarsí: "I would have liked Cubarsí, my team-mate, to be here, because I think this award should be his, he deserves it." Cubarsí also finished 12th in the Ballon d'Or itself. In the women's category, Barcelona midfielder Vicky López kept the Kopa she won in 2025.

Simón takes the Yashin

Unai Simón became the first Spanish winner of the Yashin Trophy since it turned into a season-long award in 2019, Marca reports. The Athletic and Spain goalkeeper, 29, had finished second in 2024. His case rested on Spain's world title: according to Relevo, he went 650 minutes without conceding at World Cups, spread over 2022 and 2026, beating the 517-minute record Italy's Walter Zenga had held since 1990.

The first to hug him was Arsenal's David Raya, his back-up for Spain and a fellow nominee, La Razón reported. Simón collected the award a day after Athletic's 4-0 home win over Getafe, and in his speech looked to the club's history, naming the former Athletic goalkeeper Ángel Iribar: "And the best example I have at home, with Ángel Iribar, with el Chopo."