Harry Kane claimed the Ballon d'Or award despite being excluded from the top 10 by journalists in just two countries. According to France Football magazine's breakdown, only Mexico and Ivory Coast omitted the Bayern Munich striker entirely from their ballots, while Kane topped 40 first-place votes overall to edge out Kylian Mbappé by 28 points.
Kane's near-unanimous backing contrasted with other major contenders. Mbappé received 23 first-place votes but was excluded from the top 10 by voters from Greece, Scotland and Ukraine. Third-placed Lamine Yamal, who collected 881 points and 13 first-place votes, fell outside the top ten in four countries: Belarus, Cameroon, Croatia and Greece.
Fourth-placed Rodri, the highest-ranked Spaniard after Yamal, earned first-place votes from 10 countries: Nigeria, the United States, Guatemala, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Thailand, Vietnam, Croatia and Iceland. Fabián Ruiz completed the top five, with representatives from Gabon, Peru, Syria and Ukraine placing him first.
Source: goal.com
