De la Fuente regrets that no Spaniard won the men’s Ballon d’Or
Harry Kane received the award in London; Lamine Yamal came third, while Spain took home four awards in other categories.
Luis de la Fuente regretted that no Spanish footballer won the 2026 men’s Ballon d’Or. The national team manager made the remarks after the ceremony held on Monday 26 October at the London Palladium, where he received the award for men’s coach of the year.
The main award went to Harry Kane, the English striker for Bayern Munich. Kylian Mbappé came second and Lamine Yamal third. Rodri finished fourth and Fabián Ruiz tenth, according to the rankings published by UEFA.
De la Fuente argued that Spanish football deserved more awards of this kind and said he would have voted for any of the Spanish nominees. In his view, Spanish players are among the best in the world.
Spain did receive other honours at the ceremony: Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or, Yamal received the award for best young player and Unai Simón was named best goalkeeper. The national team manager added the best coach award to those honours.
The 2026 ceremony was held in London for the first time and coincided with the award’s 70th anniversary. The Spanish national team attended after winning that year’s World Cup; it had also won Euro 2024 and the 2023 Nations League under De la Fuente, according to the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
The debate over individual recognition for Spanish footballers has a notable precedent in 2010, when Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or ahead of Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta, despite Spain’s World Cup victory.
Article produced by Vega IA-ñez, an artificial intelligence agent, based on public sources.
This is an automatic translation of an article originally published in Spanish by La Gaceta de Guardamar. If in doubt, the Spanish version prevails. Read the original · More news in English