Haaland Ranked 26th in Ballon d'Or Rankings: Are There Actually 25 Players Better Than Him?

Haaland Ranked 26th in the Ballon d'Or Rankings: Are There Actually 25 Players Better Than Him?

Unsurprisingly, the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony threw up plenty of controversy - the high stakes and even higher tensions of the ceremony always see tempers flare and true opinions shared, and the newest installment was no different from last year’s, which saw a dramatic Real Madrid-flavored fallout, as Manchester City’s Rodri won the award for best male player.

On Monday, interest ranged from Lamine Yamal’s dad virtually accusing FIFA of being rigged, to Germany legend and former winner of the Golden Ball Lothar Matthaus turning up with a girlfriend 38 years younger than him. However, one of the biggest surprises of the evening came about early on in the rankings.

Lothar Matthäus (64) has arrived with his 26 year old girlfriend! 📸✨ pic.twitter.com/Z51nAAufPr

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) September 22, 2025

When announcing the 30 best players in the world, the first four entrants went pretty much as expected - Bayern Munich's Michael Olise finished 30th and was followed by Florian Wirtz, Virgil van Dijk, and Declan Rice. Then, at 26th came the first big shock of the night - Erling Haaland’s name came out.

Erling HAALAND has ranked 26th in the #BallonDor rankings.

51 G/A in 58 games….Just cancel these farce awards 😂 pic.twitter.com/mMFFvSWEO9

— The City Shack (@thecityshack) September 22, 2025

The Norwegian goal machine, who, despite fronting a transitioning Manchester City team throughout 2024/25, bagged 31 goals in all competitions throughout the season, and though far from his best output, it was still enough to see him outscore five of the top 10 outfield players in the rankings.

The selection surprised us, to say the least, as we simply couldn’t see how there are 25 players in the world better than the City Destroyer, particularly when considering his scary form at the start of the new campaign. The ceremony, and thus his unspectacular ranking, came less than a week after the striker netted his 50th Champions League goal, reaching the milestone in an incredible 49 appearances.

For many football fans across the planet, Haaland is the best striker in world football - so was he hard done by?

Goal Weighting

The Ballon d’Or rankings are sorted by two metrics - goal contributions and trophies. Since 2007, 14 of the awards have gone to either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, thanks in equal part to their outrageous output and their knack for winning trophy after trophy.

Lionel Messi remains only the golden boy winner to ever win a #BallonDor pic.twitter.com/K1faMNlvBo

— Austine ✪ (@Austinooffical) September 22, 2025

On the rare occasions that one of the two has not won the award, the Golden Ball has been awarded exclusively to other attackers or midfielders - defenders simply do not get a look in thanks to their lack of involvement in front of goal.

Dembele amassed five trophies in 2025 alone, along with 46 goal involvements, while in the previous season, Rodri took home Premier League and European Championship winners' medals while also notching 22 goals and assists - an immense tally for a defensive midfielder.

How will i explain to my kids that Dembele won the Ballon dor before Neymar, Mbappe, Halaand and Salah? pic.twitter.com/JSDn0YLAU9

— IRUNNIA (@Irunnia_) September 22, 2025

Further back, Karim Benzema’s 59 goals and assists combined with a Champions League, La Liga, and Super Cup trophy earned him the accolade, while in 2018, Luka Modric’s stunning run to the World Cup final with Croatia, along with a Champions and Super Cup, was enough to see him leapfrog Messi to the top spot.

But you’ll notice above that goals alone are not enough to guarantee individual success - and sadly for Haaland, Man City suffered just their second trophyless season since Pep Guardiola took charge.

Moreover, a cluster of players also netted more goals than Haaland across last season, these being Harry Kane (38), Kylian Mbappe (43), Mo Salah (34), Dembele (33), Raphinha (34), Robert Lewandowski (42), Serhou Guirassy (34) and Viktor Gyokeres (54).

Ballon Dor is just about PR nowadays.
No way Palmer is ranked higher than Kane#BallonDor pic.twitter.com/LsDFqin2m6

— Buck (@bucket_thfc) September 22, 2025

All of these players ranked higher than Haaland, who himself did not have a bad season - it was more down to his team's performance than his own that he ranked so low.

But though his fellow striker may have outperformed the Norwegian last season, how was it that so many others also placed above him?

The Competition

Of the 25 players ranked above him, 15 can be considered as out-and-out attackers, either playing as center forwards or as attacking-minded wingers with as much purpose to score as the front men themselves.

That still leaves another 10 in deeper positions who were considered as having better seasons than Haaland. Six of them were PSG players, and when the French side's 2024/25 record is examined closely, it is easy to understand why Achraf Hakimi, Joao Neves, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nuno Mendes, and Fabian Ruiz were considered ahead of Haaland.

It’s crazy how PSG entire starting xi is going to be in the top 30 ballon dor list 🤯 pic.twitter.com/WbHM00dFyq

— Janty (@CFC_Janty) July 10, 2025

Liverpool’s midfield maestro Alexis MacAllister also placed higher, as the Argentine claimed 22nd place. However, there were a number of surprises, most significantly from Napoli’s Scott McTominay, whose revival in Naples earned him 16th spot, despite playing a backup role for Haaland’s Manchester rivals just 12 months previously.

Cole Palmer’s eighth-place finish also surprised many - though he is undoubtedly one of the best players on his day and played a significant part in both Chelsea’s Conference League and Club World Cup wins, he failed to score a goal from open play from February to September - Haaland comfortably outscored him, and although his 2024/25 campaign lacked trophies, his performances were far more consistent than Chelsea’s key man.

Coming 8th without CL football is insane..Cole Palmer is going to be our first ballon dor player pic.twitter.com/kK2NtoDbL6

— 𝚁𝙰𝚈  (@CfcRayyy) September 23, 2025

Denzel Dumfries was another that Haaland could arguably have beaten - the Dutch right-back was crucial in leading Inter Milan to a Serie A title and Champions League final, but his tendency to drop in and out of big games saw many startled to see him ranked a place ahead of Haaland.

How Good is Haaland Really?

On his day, Erling Haaland is the best striker in the world, end of discussion. His tendency to find the corners is akin to a shark’s ability to sense the smallest drop of blood in the water, and once Haaland gets a sniff, a feast usually follows.

His lack of trophies and City’s mixed results hurt his ranking, but the ravenous robot still put together a stellar individual season, netting 22 Premier League goals, along with a further nine in the Champions League.

In addition, Haaland has already shown more consistency throughout his career than many of the higher-ranked players - a prime example of this is with most of the PSG players. Everyone knew they were excellent players before the campaign started, but none had ever truly shown such quality as they did as the season unfolded.

Erling Haaland | Big game catalogue for Manchester City SO FAR

pic.twitter.com/fTYTl51jeY

— ِ (@JXComps) September 22, 2025

As a result, these players are now under pressure to avoid the label of one-season wonders, while Haaland, despite never having won a Ballon d’Or, has shown that he can put the ball in the net game after game, season after season.

So in conclusion, it is hard to disagree that this year, there were 25 players who performed better and exceeded expectations further than Man City’s number one finisher. But over the last four years, only one or two of them can claim to have made the same earth-shuddering impact as him - 160 goals in that timeframe put paid to that.

Did you know Erling Haaland reached a top speed of 34.42 km/h during his goal against Arsenal over the weekend? 💨 pic.twitter.com/Y3S5eXTXpw

— Premier League (@premierleague) September 24, 2025

Regardless of his ranking this year, Haaland has already secured a spot in the discussion of the world’s elites, and while he suffered the first trophy drought of his City career, it is only a matter of time until the blonde bagsman gets his enormous hands on some more silverware. We’ll see what the Ballon d’Or rankings say then!