Muller tips Olise or Mbappe for Ballon d’Or

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Thomas Muller has backed either Michael Olise or Kylian Mbappe as the top two candidates to win the Ballon d’Or this year.

The winner of the award will be announced on October 26, but Muller has overlooked favourites including former Bayern Munich team-mate Harry Kane and World Cup winner Lamine Yamal.

Instead, he has tipped a different Bayern player to claim the award, looking to Olise, whose performances in 2025-26 helped the club win the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles.

Olise ended the Bundesliga season with 34 goal involvements (15 goals, 19 assists), a new record for a winger since Opta data collection began in the German top-flight in 2004-05.

Only Kane (41) directly contributed to more Bundesliga goals than the Frenchman, who also scored five goals and provided seven assists in 13 Champions League games.

He also carried his form into the World Cup, becoming the first player on record (since 1966) to register seven assists in a single edition.

As for Mbappe, this summer he became the all-time top scorer at World Cups (22 goals) and has scored 50 goals in 52 games for Real Madrid since the start of last season.

Of players in Europe’s top five leagues, only Kane (67) has netted more club goals than Mbappe in that time.

OUR 2026 MEN’S BALLON D’OR NOMINEES! #ballondor https://t.co/GQFsH5u5lO

— Ballon d’Or (@ballondor) September 8, 2026

“For me, there are two candidates whose individual performances have impressed me the most, and those are Michael Olise and his brilliant World Cup partner Kylian Mbappe,” Muller wrote in his newsletter, as quoted by Sky Sport Germany.

“The two combine spectacle with goal threat. In detail, they manage to be efficient with their finesse and power, and to make the whole thing look incredibly easy.

“For me, that’s the stuff of a world-class footballer. It simply needs a touch of magic.”

Muller also highlighted Olise’s impressive start to the 2026-27 campaign.

Olise has registered 11 goal involvements across all competitions so far this term (eight goals, three assists), including a hat-trick in a 7-0 rout of Union Berlin before the international break.

“It’s nothing new how he converts those chances from outside the penalty area, but it’s still always a sight to behold,” Muller added.

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