The 2026 Ballon d'Or voting results have been announced, and Lionel Messi is attracting attention as he placed 5th. The French soccer magazine France Football published the voting results, and Messi was voted the world's best player by journalists from six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Panama, UAE, China, and Belarus, and he finished in fifth place with a total of 612 points.
In particular, Brazil's vote was cited as one of the surprises. Brazilian play-by-play announcer Clever Machado put aside rivalries and hailed Messi and Kylian Mbappé as the best players at the World Cup. Machado praised Messi's ability to still dictate matches at the age of 39, and his dramatic play that turned the game around when Argentina found themselves in a difficult situation.
At the top of the voting results, England's Harry Kane was awarded the award for the first time in first place (1055 points), followed by France's Kylian Mbappé in second place (1027 points), Spain's Lamine Yamal in third place (881 points), and Rodri in fourth place (726 points). Messi finished in fifth place with 612 points.
In response to this result, Argentine media ``TyC Sports'' has indicated that it will be closely monitoring the trends in the countries that voted for Messi and will pay attention to his performance in future international tournaments and club matches. Attention will be focused on how Kane's first award will be evaluated at the next Ballon d'Or.