Max Eberl's Bold Statement on Ballon d'Or Candidates
Max Eberl has stepped into the Ballon d'Or debate with a sharp message that landed squarely in Lamine Yamal's direction – and with Michael Olise's name pushed firmly into the spotlight.
The Bayern Munich sporting director spoke after his side's ruthless 7-0 dismantling of Union Berlin on Friday, a night when Olise ran riot with a hat-trick and Bayern's attack looked untouchable. In the mixed zone, the conversation quickly drifted away from the scoreline and onto the golden trophy everyone in the game talks about.
Asked about recent remarks from Barcelona’s teenage star Lamine Yamal on how the Ballon d'Or should be decided, Eberl didn’t bother hiding his stance. His response carried the weight of a pointed rebuke.
"The best players are those who do not need a promotional campaign," he said, a line that doubled as both a principle and a clear jab at the growing noise around Yamal’s candidacy.
Eberl then pivoted straight to his own dressing room.
"For me, Michael Olise is also a candidate for the Ballon d'Or. He is one of the best players in the world," he added, using the backdrop of Bayern’s seven-goal hammering of the Berlin side to elevate the Frenchman into the conversation.
Olise had just delivered a statement performance, his hat-trick the standout act in a game that felt like a showcase for Bayern’s attacking power. Eberl seized that moment to underline that, in his eyes, the Ballon d'Or should find its way to players like the 22-year-old, without the need for orchestrated campaigns.
The comments came after Lamine Yamal had laid out his own criteria for the award in an interview with "Movistar Plus". The Barcelona forward pushed back against the idea that raw numbers, particularly goals, should be decisive – a view that cuts against the way Bayern figures have often championed Harry Kane’s case.
"I think the Ballon d'Or should go to the best player in the world, nothing more," Yamal said. "Not to a player who scored 80 goals, because if you score 80 goals you win the award for top scorer of the year. The two things are completely different, and people don't understand that."
That stance clearly didn’t sit quietly in Munich. While Yamal argued that pure goal tallies should not dictate who lifts the prize, Bayern’s hierarchy has repeatedly pointed to Kane’s extraordinary scoring numbers as central to his claim.
Eberl’s reply, then, did more than praise Olise. It pushed back against the idea that public narratives and media campaigns should shape the outcome. In his view, the truly elite don’t need a drumbeat behind them.
The Ballon d'Or race is already bristling with opinions, agendas and statistics. Now it has something else: a brewing tug-of-war between Barcelona’s prodigy and Bayern’s powerbrokers over what "best in the world" really means – and who fits that description this season.
