Harry Kane has won the Men’s 2026 Ballon d’Or, becoming the first English player in 25 years to claim football’s most prestigious individual award.
The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker was crowned at the London Palladium on Monday night after an outstanding season in which he scored 73 goals for club and country, beating Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé to the prize.
Kane’s triumph ends England’s wait for a Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen claimed the award in 2001. He also becomes the fifth Englishman to win the honour, following Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen.
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His remarkable scoring record proved decisive after he helped Bayern secure a domestic double and contributed to England’s third-place finish at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Kane scored 61 goals in all competitions for Bayern during the 2025/26 season, including 36 in the Bundesliga, while adding 12 goals for England to finish with 73 in 65 appearances.
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His club tally was 19 goals more than that of any other player across Europe’s top five leagues. It was also the highest single-season total by a player at a club in those leagues since Cristiano Ronaldo scored 61 goals for Real Madrid in 2014/15.
Kane’s 36 Bundesliga goals helped Bayern secure another league title, while his contributions in the German Cup helped Vincent Kompany’s side complete the domestic double.
He also scored 14 goals in 13 UEFA Champions League appearances, finishing just behind Mbappé in the competition’s scoring charts as Bayern reached the semi-finals.
At the World Cup, Kane scored six goals as England secured third place, adding to his case for the individual award.
The striker’s success marks a major milestone for Bayern, whose last Ballon d’Or winner was Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. Kane becomes the first player from the Bundesliga to win the award since Borussia Dortmund’s Matthias Sammer in 1996.
Kane also received the Gerd Müller Trophy, which recognises the season’s leading goalscorer, after his prolific campaign for Bayern and England.
His Ballon d’Or victory rewards a season of extraordinary consistency and underlines his status among the world’s leading strikers.
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