Khvicha Kvaratskhelia won’t win the 2026 Ballon d’Or but PSG’s wing wizard is the best player in the world
Unfortunately, though, Kvaratskhelia is still not considered a frontrunner in this year’s Ballon d’Or race. The Georgia international will likely be held back by an underwhelming domestic year, which saw him restricted to just 20 Ligue 1 starts as Luis Enrique regularly granted his key players rest to prioritise more success in the Champions League.
Kvaratskhelia only registered a modest combined total of 12 goals and assists in domestic competition for PSG, helping them to a fifth successive Ligue 1 crown, which won’t be enough to put him ahead of the main Golden Ball contenders, even after his superhuman Champions League exploits are added into the equation. It might have been, had he also had the chance to strut his stuff on the World Cup stage with Georgia, but alas, they didn’t even make the European qualification playoffs.
Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane were all prolific in North America, while Rodri was named Player of the Tournament for captaining Spain to the trophy, and Lamine Yamal also played a significant part in their success. All of them have enjoyed stellar individual years at club level, too, particularly Kane, who racked up a staggering 73 goals for Bayern and England.
The flawed nature of the Ballon d’Or voting process, which gives statistics more importance than talent, means that Kvaratskhelia probably won’t even get on the podium. That is a travesty, but the purists know the truth: Kvaratskhelia is in a class of his own. If he keeps pushing PSG to more silverware, that fact could be made official at the 2027 Ballon d’Or ceremony instead.
