Michael Olise’s pictures from the 2026 Ballon d’Or look like stills from a film that doesn’t exist.
Photos from the Ballon d’Or tend to look the same: a barrage of flashbulbs, a press backdrop, a practised smile for the cameras. After the 2026 ceremony, Michael Olise posted a series on Instagram in which little of that remains: he poses in a room with heavy curtains, without daylight, the colours dark and muted.
Behind the camera was London photographer and director Cassia Agyeman. Olise had worn the suit on the night of the ceremony at the London Palladium, where his Bayern Munich team-mate Harry Kane won the Ballon d’Or and Olise himself finished ninth.
Cassia Agyeman Stages Michael Olise in Half-Light
Agyeman is entirely self-taught as a photographer and made her directing debut at just 16 with a short film of her own. She stages Olise casually in a setting that looks like a hotel room.
Olise leans against the wall, slips a hand into his pocket or pulls his coat collar up over his face. Only a single frame in the series shows the press backdrop from that night.
Michael Olise’s Ballon d’Or Look Is by YAKU
Olise’s suit is by YAKU, the label of London-based designer Yaku Stapleton. What stands out on the jacket is the asymmetric fastening, with two diagonal rows of buttons, and its military-inspired details.
Olise has made unusual appearances away from the pitch before. At Bayern’s Oktoberfest visit he paired traditional Bavarian dress with a light-blue beanie from Chrome Hearts, and during the 2026 World Cup his Instagram feed was made up of images that German photographer Lukas Korschan had shot off an old cathode-ray television.
That is all the more striking because Olise otherwise draws little attention to himself. In interviews he tends to keep his answers short, and he celebrates even spectacular goals with notable restraint.
He may not have won the Ballon d’Or, but he could certainly have taken home the award for best-dressed guest. And with Agyeman’s portraits, he has delivered the coolest pictures of the night. Classic Mr. Nonchalant.
