Harry Kane Wins the Ballon d’Or, England’s First Winner in 25 Years

Harry Kane has won the Ballon d’Or, becoming the first English player to claim football’s most prestigious individual award since Michael Owen in 2001. The Bayern Munich striker and England captain received the 70th edition of the prize Monday night at the London Palladium, finishing ahead of Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal. The award, organized by France Football magazine, is decided by a jury of 100 journalists from around the world. Each voter ranks 10 players from a 30-man shortlist, and the player with the most points wins. “Thank you to everyone who voted for me, I can imagine it was tough,” an emotional Kane said on stage. Kane, 33, was rewarded for a record-breaking 2025-26 campaign in which he scored 73 goals for club and country. He scored 61 of them in 51 appearances for Bayern, who won the Bundesliga and the German Cup before falling to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semifinals. He then captained England to the semifinals of the World Cup in North America, where they lost to Argentina. Spain went on to win the tournament. Kane is the fifth Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or, joining Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen. He is also the first player from Germany’s Bundesliga to take the prize since Matthias Sammer in 1996. The setting carried extra weight. This was the first Ballon d’Or ceremony held outside France, staged in London to honor Matthews, who won the inaugural award in 1956. The win caps a landmark month for Kane, who equaled Peter Shilton’s England record of 125 caps against Czechia at Wembley earlier in October and scored twice in a 3-0 Nations League victory. Before this year, his best Ballon d’Or finish was 10th. Mbappé arrived as a leading contender after becoming the all-time top scorer in World Cup history this summer, with 22 goals, 10 of them at this year’s tournament. Yamal, a World Cup winner with Spain, took the award for best young player for a third straight year. Alexia Putellas of London City Lionesses won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the third time, minutes before Kane was announced. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente was named coach of the year and his goalkeeper, Unai Simón, goalkeeper of the year, while Paris Saint-Germain took men’s club of the year. Kane also collected the men’s striker of the year award, with Mexico’s Charlyn Corral of Pachuca winning the women’s prize. The night was not without hiccups. Hours before the ceremony, the official Ballon d’Or website briefly listed Kane, Yamal and Mbappé all as winners, and the start was pushed back 30 minutes after London traffic delayed many guests. Kane succeeds Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé, who won in 2025, and Rodri, the 2024 winner. Lionel Messi holds the record with eight Ballons d’Or, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with five.