Why Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise deserves to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or
A domestic double winner, the Bundesliga Player of the Season and the leading assist provider at the FIFA World Cup: Michael Olise's 2025/26 campaign was certainly one to remember. With several game-winning moments to match his remarkable numbers, the Bayern Munich winger has every reason to be eyeing the 2026 Ballon d’Or.
Give Olise a yard on the right and opposition defenders know what is coming. The shift onto his left foot, the change of pace, the pass that takes a defence out of the game: he has made the spectacular feel wonderfully familiar.
And yet, the strongest argument for crowning Olise the 2026 Ballon d'Or winner is how reliably his brilliance has yielded results for Bayern and France. His 34 direct goal involvements across the 2025/26 Bundesliga season speak to his remarkable consistency and output.
Those returns brought another Meisterschale as well as the Bundesliga Player of the Season award, where he edged out Harry Kane to collect the latter - despite the Englishman's stunning goal record.
There is a temptation to see a creative winger’s contribution as supporting work. However, Olise’s performances demand rather more credit than that.
Take Bayern’s 6-2 victory over Freiburg on Matchday 11. Two goals down, the record champions needed someone to change the direction of the afternoon. Olise responded with two goals and three assists, directly contributing to five of Bayern’s six strikes in a breathtaking comeback. If Kane and Luis Díaz don't wear you down over 90 minutes, Olise almost certainly will.
The same capacity to unlock a contest proved crucial in Berlin. With May's DFB Cup final against VfB Stuttgart goalless at the interval, Olise supplied Harry Kane for the 55th-minute breakthrough. Kane went on to complete a hat-trick in a 3-0 win that secured the domestic double. Even on a day when the English goal-getter stole the show, the Frenchman more than played his part.
Olise’s influence travelled far beyond Germany, too. He finished the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League with eight assists - the joint-most in the competition.
Against Europe’s elite, Bayern could still rely on their right-sided magician to deliver. Deep into added time in the quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid, Olise collected Kane’s pass, cut inside and fired in off the post. His strike sealed a 4-3 victory on the night and a 6-4 aggregate success, sending Bayern into the last four. The technique was unmistakably Olise, as was his decision to shoot in the first place instead of winding the clock down and retaining the ball.
“Michael Olise is already one of the best players in the world,” Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany said in April after his Champions League displays. His winger spent the summer strengthening that assessment.
Watch: All Olise's Bundesliga assists
Having finished top of the Bundesliga’s assist chart, Olise repeated the feat with France on football's biggest stage. His seven assists in eight World Cup appearances this summer established a new single-tournament record. Les Bleus' last-32 victory over Sweden offered a particularly vivid demonstration of his brilliance. Olise struck the post with an acrobatic effort and then supplied both second-half goals in France’s 3-0 success.
“Olise is the best in the world, far ahead of all other players," said former Bayern and France defender Willy Sagnol after Olise's World Cup exploits. "If he doesn’t win the Ballon d’Or at the end of the year, something is seriously wrong.”
Leading the assist charts in the Bundesliga and at the World Cup while sharing the top spot in the Champions League shows a level of consistency that few - if any - of his Ballon d'Or rivals can match.
In fact, the only man who could hang with Olise in terms of big competition performances last season was his own Bayern teammate. Kane ended the last season with 73 goals for club and country, a haul only the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have bettered since the turn of the millennium. While the England captain is one of the favourites to scoop his first Ballon d'Or in October, Olise's case to win it is equally as compelling.
It chiefly hinges on his 34 Bundesliga goal involvements, the silverware of a domestic double and the distinction of a record-breaking World Cup campaign. Add the ability to decide a cup final with a pass or illuminate a Champions League thriller with a stunning finish, and the picture becomes even more persuasive.
For a player who spent much of last season season giving others their moment, the Ballon d’Or would be a richly deserved opportunity for Olise to take centre stage.
