{
  "id": 17365123,
  "title": "Revealed: The points gap that denied Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe the 2026 Ballon d’Or",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/revealed-the-points-gap-that-denied-real-madrids-kylian-mbappe-the",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-31T08:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/revealed-points-gap-denied-real-080000926.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe came close to winning his first-ever Ballon d'Or this year, finishing second by just 28 points behind Harry Kane. The French superstar's second-place finish marks the narrowest winning margin for any Ballon d'Or winner since the award's current voting system was introduced. Mbappe secured 1,027 points from the 100 journalists participating in the vote, while Kane received 1,055 points. The difference was mainly due to Kane receiving 40 first-place votes compared to Mbappe's 23. Despite their close totals, Kane appeared on 98 ballots in the top ten, while Mbappe appeared on 97. Mbappe's individual season was remarkable, scoring 42 goals in 44 appearances for Real Madrid and leading the World Cup with 10 goals. His historic campaign, which included becoming the all-time leading goalscorer, was overshadowed by his narrow defeat to Kane. The result is another disappointment for Real Madrid, who suffered a similar close loss in 2024 when Vinicius Jr. won by just 41 points.",
  "summary": "Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe came agonisingly close to winning his first-ever Ballon d’Or this year.He finished second, just behind Bayern Munich star Harry Kane, who lifted the individual ho...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}