Thomas Muller has named Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe as his leading candidates to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, leaving out established favourites including his former Bayern Munich team-mate Harry Kane and World Cup winner Lamine Yamal.
The winner of football’s most prestigious individual award will be announced on 26 October.
Muller has instead selected Bayern Munich forward Olise after a highly productive 2025-26 season, in which the club won both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal.
Olise finished the Bundesliga campaign with 34 goal involvements – 15 goals and 19 assists. That was a record for a winger since Opta began collecting data in Germany’s top flight in 2004-05.
Only Kane, with 41, contributed directly to more Bundesliga goals than Olise. The France international also scored five goals and supplied seven assists in 13 Champions League appearances.
Olise continued that form at the World Cup, where he became the first player on record since 1966 to provide seven assists in a single edition of the tournament.
Mbappe, meanwhile, became the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer this summer with 22 goals. He has also scored 50 goals in 52 matches for Real Madrid since the beginning of last season.
Among players in Europe’s top five leagues, only Kane, with 67 goals, has scored more club goals over that period.
“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.”
Olise has also made an impressive start to the 2026-27 campaign, recording 11 goal involvements in all competitions, including eight goals and three assists.
His best individual display came before the international break, when he scored a hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 7-0 victory over Union Berlin.
Muller also praised the 24-year-old’s ability from distance.
“It’s nothing new how he converts those chances from outside the penalty area, but it’s still always a sight to behold,” he added.
