Kylian Mbappé? Harry Kane? Lamine Yamal? Soccer’s Top-20 Players Right Now

With the 2026 Ballon d’Or award set to be presented to soccer’s top performer — as determined by France Football magazine — next Monday in London, there’s no better time to take a crack at ranking the Top 20 players in the game. Many of those listed below have been nominated for the most coveted individual prize on Planet Fútbol, though while the Ballon d’Or voters can only consider achievements from early August 2025 to July 19 of this year, the day Spain beat Argentina in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, this list reflects who ranks where right now. The Manchester City winger’s ball skills are as dazzling as they come, and the end-product (4 goals, 2 assists in six Premier League contests) has been there this season, too. ACHIEVEMENTS: The 29-year-old Brazilian is leading Europe’s top five leagues with 12 goals so far. Raphinha finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or voting last year. ACHIEVEMENTS: Well on his way to becoming one of the best Eucadorian players ever, Pacho is already one of soccer’s top central defenders; his partnership with PSG captain Marquinhos continues to be the best in Europe by some distance. ACHIEVEMENTS: Signed by PSG from Italian side Napoli in early 2025, the “Georgian Maradona” became an immediate starter for Luis Enrique as the Parisians won consecutive domestic and European honors. However, his season came to an end after suffering an ACL injury in the Oct. 20 win over Barcelona in Champions League action. ACHIEVEMENTS: The 24-year-old from Portugal is the top left back in the world, though he’s out for the next few weeks because of a thigh injury suffered in PSG’s 2-1 win over Strasbourg last weekend. ACHIEVEMENTS: Elite goalkeepers are in short supply these days, which is one of the reasons Raya is here despite not even starting for his national team; the Arsenal No. 1 watched from the bench as Unai Simon backdropped Spain to the World Cup last summer. Still, the 31-year-old vet was the best keeper in club soccer last season and has allowed five goals in seven league games this one, tied for tops in the Premier League. ACHIEVEMENTS: The veteran right back remains the best around at his position and, at only 27, one of the best, period. Before helping PSG repeat as European champs last spring, Hakimi captained Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations, which the Atlas Lions won after Senegal was later ruled to have forfeited. ACHIEVEMENTS: The top holding midfielder in the game, the 26-year-old Portuguese destroyer has been a mainstay for manager Luis Enrique during PSG’s last two trophy-laden seasons. He also helped his country win the UEFA Nations League in 2025, defeating Spain, and finished third in the Ballon d’Or voting. ACHIEVEMENTS: Although he wasn’t a full-time starter for Spain during the World Cup, he created more chances than any other La Roja player at the tournament. His introduction off the bench in extra time was the spark that led to Ferran Torres’s trophy-clinching goal. ACHIEVEMENTS: The big Brazilian central defender was the rock that Arsenal’s success was built on in 2025-26, when the Gunners won the Premier League for the first time in two decades and came agonizingly close to their maiden triumph in Europe’s top club competition. At 28, Gabriel is perhaps the top defender in the Premier League with Arsenal partner William Saliba injured long term. ACHIEVEMENTS: The Real Madrid star was England’s emotional leader and, with all respect to Kane, its best player in leading his country to a bronze medal at the 2026 World Cup, the Three Lions highest finish since 1966. He has three goals and three assists in nine La Liga matches. ACHIEVEMENTS: When Dembélé took home the Ballon d’Or last year, there was an obvious question: What would he do for an encore? The 29-year-old responded by leading PSG to its second European crown in two seasons, scoring the equalizer for his side against Arsenal en route to eventual victory in the penalty shootout. In two Champions League games this season, he already has three goals. ACHIEVEMENTS: Long the face of England’s greatest generation of players since the Three Lions’ lone World Cup win more than 60 years ago now, the classy center forward is probably on the downslope of his career at age 33. Yet he remains the game’s best pure scorer this side of Erling Haaland, having bagged six to the Norwegian’s seven at the 2026 tourney. ACHIEVEMENTS: Like Messi, Cubarsí also had an argument for the World Cup’s Golden Ball. At just 19 years of age, the Barcelona center back anchored Spain’s backline as La Roja shut down opponents on the way to raising the World Cup trophy, conceding an astonishing one goal against in eight matches. Afterward, the Barça academy product was named the competition’s top youngster. ACHIEVEMENTS: How can Messi not be here after the GOAT, who turned 39 during the World Cup, scored eight goals to help Argentina reach the final for the second time in four years? Only Kylian Mbappé, his ninth and 10th strikes came against England’s backups in the glorified friendly known as the match for third place, was more prolific. Messi was the best player on the field in the Albiceleste’s 2-1 win over England in the semis and his country’s top performer in the extra-time defeat to Spain in the finale. The face of Inter Miami is also the runaway scoring leader in MLS, with five more goals than any other player despite featuring in fewer matches. ACHIEVEMENTS: Last season’s Premier League Golden Boot winner, the sport’s most lethal marksman is once again atop the scoring charts in England’s Premier League. Across all competitions, the 26-year-old has more goals than games played, including four tallies in his last two Champions League outings. It’s been a banner year. Last November, Haaland led his native Norway back to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years and then fired them into the quarterfinals at the main event with two goals in a 2-0 upset of five-time champions Brazil. ACHIEVEMENTS: The Golden Ball recipient as the World Cup’s MVP, Rodri is clearly in the running to reclaim the award he somewhat surprisingly took home in 2024 while playing for Manchester City. Rodri returned to Spain in August to play for Barcelona, turning an already-legitimate contender for the Champions League title into the sports books’ outright favorite. While the main knock on Rodri’s candidacy is that he missed most of last season with a torn ACL while with CIty, that only makes his recent accomplishments more impressive. ACHIEVEMENTS: On a comically stacked team featuring Kylian Mbappé and 2025 Ballon d’Or recipient Ousmane Dembélé, Olise was France’s standout player at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Those performances over the summer in the U.S. quickly thrust the London-born Bayern Munich playmaker into the world’s-best-player conversation. He’s since gotten off to a fast start with Bayern this term, with a squad-topping seven goals in eight Bundesliga and Champions League games. ACHIEVEMENTS: The 27-year-old Frenchman claimed his second straight World Cup Golden Boot award over the summer, netting 10 times as Les Bleus finished fourth this summer. He continues to score at will in his third season with Real Madrid; Mbappé has 11 goals in as many La Liga and UEFA Champions League games ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Leipzig. Though he hasn’t yet won a European or Spanish title since leaving hometown club PSG for Madrid, his case for the Ballon d’Dor is strong. So don’t be surprised if he collects the honor for the first time following nine career nominations. ACHIEVEMENTS: In a year when there’s no clear Ballon d’Or frontrunner, the 19-year-old superstar has as much motion as anyone. He just won the World Cup, and although he scored only once in La Roja’s eight games at the tournament, the youngster was an crucial unsung cog in the champions’ team-first game. “That was the best performance I’ve ever seen from a 19-year-old, ever,” former USA and Villarreal striker Jozy Altidore told me the day after he covered the decider for Spanish-language network Telemundo. “Every time he lost the ball, he sprinted and got it back. These are things people don’t pay attention to. He was so good, so disciplined, so professional.” With La Liga-leading Barcelona this season, Yamal has resumed his high-scoring ways. Despite manning the right wing, he trails only Barça teammate Raphinha and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé in goals two months into the 2026-27 campaign. ACHIEVEMENTS: