Ballon d’Or: Luis Enrique refuses to choose

Ten PSG players are among the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees, but Luis Enrique refuses to single out one favourite

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Ballon d’Or: Luis Enrique refuses to choose

Despite PSG’s overwhelming presence on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, Luis Enrique insists the team must always come before individuals.

Paris Saint-Germain are the best-represented club among the 30 nominees for the 2026 Ballon d’Or. No fewer than 10 PSG players feature on the final list: Vitinha, Ferran Torres, Fabián Ruiz, Willian Pacho, João Neves, Nuno Mendes, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé.

Asked in his press conference which of his players he would back, Luis Enrique refused to take sides.

“Everybody knows that PSG play as a team. We can have several players who can win the Ballon d’Or. That is our idea of playing football and then winning. We must not change anything compared with the last two years.”

PSG enduring a difficult start in Ligue 1

The club’s huge Ballon d’Or presence contrasts sharply with a difficult domestic start. After three Ligue 1 matches, PSG are still without a win: 2-2 draws away to Rennes and Lille were followed by a 2-1 home defeat to Monaco. With just two points from nine, Paris have made their worst league start in almost two decades.

Their European response was emphatic, however. PSG opened their Champions League campaign by thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1.

Ferran Torres is already delivering

One player who has not struggled to adapt is Ferran Torres. The Spaniard arrived this summer after scoring the only goal of the 2026 World Cup final against Argentina, and he has already found the net five times in four competitive appearances for PSG.

He scored twice on his debut against Rennes before producing an even bigger statement in Europe with a hat-trick against Slovan Bratislava. His immediate impact has quickly made him one of Luis Enrique’s main attacking weapons.

PSG may dominate the Ballon d’Or shortlist and Ferran Torres may already be shining individually, but Luis Enrique’s message remains unchanged: at Paris, the collective must always come first.