Toni Kroos Believes PSG Forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Should Have Won the Ballon d'Or

On Monday evening, Bayern Munich and England national team forward Harry Kane won the 25/26 Ballon d’Or, succeeding PSG forward Ousmane Dembele and the historical 24/25 forward.

For my money - and I am certainly not impartial as an Englishman - this was a merited decision. Kane scored 73 goals across the 25/26 season, a tally that has only been bettered once in the 21st century, by Lionel Messi in the 11/12 season.

However, not everyone shares that viewpoint, and the debate on who should have won the award has raged on over the past few days. Some people think fellow podium nominees Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal deserved it. Others think PSG forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia should have won, after his exceptional run in the UEFA Champions League

One person who agrees with that is former Bayern, Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Toni Kroos, who when speaking on his Einfach mal Luppen podcast, said this: “Kvaratskhelia would have been my pick. In my eyes, he was the best player in the best team in Europe.

Nobody won absolutely everything. And in a World Cup year, it is even more special. The World Cup carries a lot of weight. If you look only at the season, I would have found Kvaratskhelia a very interesting choice.”

Well, PSG midfielder Fabian Ruiz may disagree that “nobody won absolutely everything” having won Ligue 1, the Champions League and the World Cup. But you take his point. Every candidate had holes in their CV.

But, truth be told, Kvaratskhelia is included in that too. The 25-year old only managed to score eight goals in Ligue 1, and did not score in the Coupe de France as PSG surprisingly failed to defend their title against Paris FC. Not playing at the World Cup is difficult, but a lot less in his control than the other two points.

That said, he was certainly a strong candidate and could have placed a bit higher. Sadly, there will certainly be no Ballon d’Or for the 26-year old this season, having heartbreakingly been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ACL rupture against Barcelona in the Champions League last week. Such a shame for him, for PSG, and the Georgia national team.

Let’s hope he will be back stronger than ever in the 27/28 season, accumulating with a Euro 2028 campaign with Georgia. Let’s wait and see.