Another club season is over, the trophies have been handed out, and the World Cup begins today.The race for football’s most coveted prize remains open, shaped but not yet settled. And talking of prizes, the Ballon d’Or will surely be decided over the next six weeks, with the 2025-26 winner crowned in October.Voted on by journalists from 100 nations, the Ballon d’Or weighs individual brilliance against team success — and it is usually the biggest matches that decide it. In World Cup years this century, the prize has gone to a player who reached the competition’s final in 2002, 2006 and 2018.Can Harry Kane or Kylian Mbappe inspire their countries to the ultimate prize? Is Lamine Yamal, on his World Cup debut, going to shape this tournament the way he shaped the 2024 European Championship? Will Erling Haaland announce himself on a stage he has never graced before?1. Harry Kane, 32 — Bayern Munich, EnglandWhy he’s here: Harry Kane has won the Bundesliga Golden Boot for the third time, becoming the first player to claim the award in each of his first three seasons in Germany. He ended Bayern’s 2025-26 campaign in stunning form, with back-to-back hat-tricks. He scored a goal every 66 minutes, notched five hat-tricks, and finished with 61 goals across all competitions, the most prolific season of his career, capped by a second European Golden Shoe. Vincent Kompany’s Bayern completed the domestic double, winning the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, but the prize both men crave most eluded them again, as Paris Saint-Germain edged them out in a breathless Champions League semi-final, 6-5 on aggregate.What’s next: In North America, Kane will captain England at his third World Cup, equalling Billy Wright’s record. England are in Group L with Croatia, Ghana and Panama, and open on June 17 against Croatia, the side who knocked them out in the 2018 semi-finals. England were the first UEFA nation to seal their World Cup place, sweeping through qualifying under Thomas Tuchel with eight wins from eight, 22 goals scored and none conceded. Kane got the winner in the 1-0 friendly win against New Zealand at the weekend, having arrived in the United States central to everything England want to achieve there.2. Lamine Yamal, 18 — Barcelona, SpainWhy he’s here: A persistent groin problem and a spring muscle tear cost Lamine Yamal long stretches of the 2025-26 season. When fit, he was a constant menace in the final third, drawing more and more defensive attention and still threading passes and finding team-mates with ease. In La Liga, he scored 16 goals, and his 11 assists made him the division’s top provider and the chief architect of Barcelona’s title. Across all competitions, he finished with 24 goals and 17 assists, his most prolific season in front of goal. Against Villarreal in February, he scored his first professional hat-trick, becoming the youngest player this century to score one in La Liga.What’s next: He makes his World Cup debut under Luis de la Fuente, who handed him his Spain bow and led them to Euro 2024 glory — the tournament where Yamal announced himself on the international stage by finishing top for assists and big chances created. Spain begin Group H play unbeaten in competitive games since March 2023. They need Yamal fit and firing if that run is to mean anything in North America. He has six goals and 11 assists in 25 international appearances since debuting at 16. He turns 19 during the tournament.Lamine Yamal is returning to fitness but could light up the 2026 World Cup (Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP via Getty Images)3. Michael Olise, 24 — Bayern Munich, FranceWhy he’s here: Michael Olise was named the 2025-26 Bundesliga Player of the Season, and the numbers justify it. He scored 15 goals and topped the league’s assists chart for a second year running, with 19, becoming the first player since Jadon Sancho in 2019-20 to reach at least 15 goals and 15 assists in a single Bundesliga campaign. In the Champions League, he contributed six assists, among the most in the competition, and scored in all three knockout ties: two against Atalanta in the round of 16, a stoppage-time strike to seal the quarter-final win over Real Madrid, and another in the semi-final defeat to PSG.