Will Haaland Ever Win a Ballon d' Or, Or Is He Too Much of a Pure Goalscorer?

Can Erling Haaland win the Ballon d'Or, or is he too focused on goal-scoring? With fierce competition from players like Mbappe and Bellingham, Haaland's ability to evolve his game will be key. Explore the debate around his chances for football's top honor.

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Nicole Sommer
Last updated: Saturday, 02.August 2025
Author Biography
Hello. My name is Nicole Sommer. I am a big soccer enthusiast and do a lot of reserach around the easiest way to watch soccer on TV and online across the whole globe.

Nobody can doubt the skill and talent of Erling Haaland and how he has dominated the Premier League since he came there from Borussia Dortmund. Even if you consider his last season weak by all standards, he still finished as the top goal scorer by quite a way. However, there is a big debate out there at the moment as to whether he has the ability to grab the Ballon d’Or, or is he just too much of a goalscorer?

If you look at the two players that have dominated the Ballon d’Or over the past decade and beyond, it is Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. And although both were prolific goalscorers, they were also great team players and great at assisting. Whereas a lot of people consider Haaland to be an old-school striker that needs to be fed and given opportunities, but outside of that, he struggles.

A great start this season

He started this season off great with back-to-back hat tricks and is already and was before the season started the favourite to lift the golden boot for the third season in a row on 10bet.co.za. Although his high start to the season has slowly slowed down as Cole Palmer looks to catch him up having set a record for scoring 4 goals in the first half of a match. Potentially showing that he is set to be future competition for Haaland when it comes to the golden boot.

Although what is going in Haalands favour is that he is only 24 years old, he does at least have youth on his side so he can adjust his style of play so that he becomes a bit more of an all-round player whilst at the same time not losing any of his goal scoring prowess that he has currently.

Youth on his side

When you look at the ages of Ronaldo and Messi, there is no doubt that they will struggle to attain any more Ballon d’Or titles, especially when you consider that they are also playing in relatively minor leagues, with Ronaldo being in Saudi Arabia and Messi over in the United States playing for Miami F.C. And so this makes this debate even more prolific, as someone is going to have to step up and take the title.

But will it be Haaland is the magical question we’re looking at today. Another way to look at this argument is to have a look at what competition for the Ballon d’Or that Haaland has at the moment. It also needs to be studied just how big of a gap there is between these candidates. As when you look at Messi and Ronaldo, although that is another argument in itself, they were simply a level above anyone else.

Who else is in contention?

Someone who has always been mentioned is that of Kylian Mbappe, who hasn’t long moved from PSG to Real Madrid and already has a World Cup under his belt. Another player from Real Madrid who has youth on this side, even compared to that of Haaland, is that of British starlet Jude Bellingham, who last year claimed his first Champions League.

And although you may say that he isn’t as prolific a goalscorer as Haaland, does his adaptability in different areas of attack and also all over the pitch mean that he is more likely to get the Ballon d’Or than Haaland? There is no specific answer to this question, however, as those people who are Manchester City fans will of course have a stronger opinion on this than those who aren't, and for example, are Real Madrid fans.

In Summary

And so if we loop back to the original question, will he ever lift the Ballon d’Or? Well, only time will tell. It will be interesting to see if Haaland can keep up the tempo this season since he has had a flying start to it and if he can keep up that consistency. It also remains to be seen if he will try to improve other areas of his game in order to try and convert him into a more rounded player.

Maybe if you were to ask this question at the end of this Premier League season and indeed after the Champions League has concluded, we could give you a bit more of an informed answer as to whether he can in fact reach the level needed to be the next winner of the Ballon d’Or and the first one from Manchester City for a long time.

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Nicole Sommer
Nicole Sommer is a true soccer fan and loyal supporter of FC Arsenal and 1.FC Köln. She plays actively her self as central forward in the women's aquad of TuS Köln in Germany. In her spare time she spends a lot of time online including researching the soccer streaming space. Her research has been published in several online soccer magazines.
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