Yamal Becomes First Player to Reach Three Ballon d'Or Nominations Before Turning 20

Lamine Yamal has become the first player in history to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or three times before turning 20. The 30-player shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or was announced on September 8, with the Barcelona forward selected for the third consecutive year after previously making the shortlist in 2024 and 2025.

Yamal was born on July 13, 2007, in Mataró, Spain, and is currently only 19 years old. He has already become one of the most closely watched players at Barcelona and in the Spain national team. The special aspect of this record is not the number of nominations itself, but the age at which he accumulated three nominations. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have also been nominated for the Ballon d'Or multiple times, but Yamal completing three nominations before the age of 20 is something no one had achieved before.

From his first nomination at 17 to appearing on the shortlist for three straight years

In 2024, Yamal was included on the Ballon d'Or shortlist for the first time at just 17 years old, becoming the youngest nominee in the award's history. That year, he helped Spain win the 2024 European Championship and finished eighth in the voting. In 2025, he went a step further by finishing second in the Ballon d'Or voting, behind Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembélé, who won a treble with his team that season.

His third nomination in 2026 came after another outstanding season for both club and country. At Barcelona, Yamal made 45 appearances in all competitions, scoring 24 goals and providing 15 assists, helping Hans Flick's team successfully defend their La Liga title and Spanish Super Cup title. He then played an important role as Spain won the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the Mexico-Canada-United States tournament.

Defeating Argentina in the World Cup final

Yamal played in all seven matches on Spain's path to winning the World Cup, scoring one goal and providing one assist during the tournament. Spain defeated defending champions Argentina, who played with 10 men, in the final.