The score was 1-1 and France were not playing well. Belgium had gone ahead through Dodi Lukebakio and though Desire Doue had levelled, the Stade de France was quiet, anxious, unconvinced. Then Zinedine Zidane sent on Michael Olise.
What followed was the kind of performance that shifts how a country feels about a footballer.
Olise assisted Rayan Cherki for France’s second. He then scored twice himself, both from Doue assists, one arriving in stoppage time to complete a 4-1 win that had looked impossible an hour earlier. By the final whistle, 80,000 people at the Stade de France were chanting “Olise Ballon d’Or!” The 24-year-old from Bayern Munich stood in the centre of the pitch and took it in.
Three records in one evening. Another match that made headlines in every football country on earth. This is October 2026 and Michael Olise is the most exciting player in European football.
The records that keep coming
Against Belgium on 5 October, Olise broke three France records in a single night.
He became the first player in the history of the France national team to provide 10 assists in a single calendar year in 2026. He reached 22 goals and assists in his first 29 appearances for France, a rate that puts him among the most productive players ever to wear the shirt. And he became the first player to be directly involved in a goal in each of his first four matches under Zidane.
The overall numbers for 2026 are extraordinary. Across the calendar year, Olise has been directly involved in 17 goals for France: seven scored, 10 assisted. His career international record across 29 appearances now reads 11 goals, 12 assists.
At club level, the story is equally relentless. Last season for Bayern, Olise produced 34 goals and assists in 32 Bundesliga appearances. His Champions League numbers ran to 11 goal involvements in 13 games. The Bundesliga gave him their Player of the Season award, and they were right to.
From London to the Stade de France
That Olise is playing for France at all is a story worth telling. He was born in London, grew up playing English football, and developed at Reading before joining Crystal Palace in the Premier League. Three outstanding seasons at Palace convinced Bayern Munich to pay approximately 60 million euros for him in 2024.
Throughout his English career, the question of international allegiance followed him. France always had a claim, and France is where Olise felt his connection lay. He made that clear from early in his professional career, and when the call came from the French federation, there was no hesitation.
“Michael is brilliant,” Thierry Henry said of him when coaching the French Olympic side. “Michael can become one of the best attacking players ever.”
Henry coached Olise at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where two goals and five assists helped France reach the final. That tournament was the preview. What has followed is the main event.
The Zidane effect
France are managed by Zinedine Zidane, and under the greatest midfielder of his generation, Olise has been liberated to play in the position that suits him best. For France he operates as a number 10, given freedom to connect play and arrive late into spaces that defenders cannot track. The results speak for themselves.
In four matches under Zidane, Olise has been involved in a goal in every single one. He scores when he starts. He scores when he comes off the bench. He creates when he is not scoring. The Stade de France does not get nervous when Olise has the ball.
This is significant because France lost the World Cup final in July. They lost it 6-4 in a third-place match to England after being beaten by Spain in the semi-finals, a heavy defeat by any measure. Deschamps stepped down after 14 years in charge. What Zidane is building is a France side that can compete for the next major trophy, and Olise is the engine of that rebuild.
The Nations League group France are in, Group A1 alongside Belgium, Italy and Turkey, has become a stage for Olise to demonstrate what he is. France top the group after four matches with seven points, having won two and drawn one. Olise’s contributions have been central to every positive result.
The Ballon d’Or conversation
The chant at the Stade de France, “Olise Ballon d’Or!”, was spontaneous and loud. It reflects something genuine in how the European football public is beginning to assess him.
In the 2026 Ballon d’Or conversations, Olise sits behind the obvious frontrunners from the World Cup: Rodri won the Golden Ball, Messi took the Silver Ball, Torres scored the final winner. But as the second half of 2026 unfolds, Olise’s consistency and the scale of his performances have made him a legitimate contender for future awards.
He is 24 years old. He plays for Bayern Munich and France. He is currently producing numbers that close in on Thierry Henry’s all-time France records in goal contributions. And he is doing it in the biggest matches, against the best opposition, under the brightest lights.
The Stade de France chant was not irony. It was recognition. France have found their next great player, and the rest of Europe is beginning to notice.