Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or in London on 26 October, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, ending England's 25-year wait for a winner.
Harry Kane has won the 2026 Ballon d'Or, becoming the first English player to claim football's most prestigious individual award since Michael Owen in 2001. The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker and England captain was named the winner on Monday, 26 October, at a ceremony at the Palladium Theatre in London, according to BBC Sport and The Guardian. Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé finished second and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal third, BBC Sport reported. “I am almost speechless. Being here in London has made it extra special,” Kane said, thanking voters and acknowledging that it had been a tough year given the quality of his rivals.
Kane's victory rests on a record-breaking goalscoring season. He scored 61 goals in 51 matches for Bayern, the most any player has managed in a single campaign for the club and 19 more than anyone else in Europe's top five leagues. He finished as the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals, added 14 in the Champions League and 10 in the German Cup, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final win over Stuttgart, as Bayern won the domestic double. Including his 12 goals for England, six of them at the World Cup, he reached 73 goals and eight assists in 65 matches. His previous best Ballon d'Or finish had been 10th.
The result is notable because Kane won without lifting either of the sport's biggest prizes: Bayern lost in the Champions League semi-finals and England were knocked out in the World Cup semi-finals. BBC Sport noted that this is only the fifth time in 20 years that the award has gone to a player who did not win the World Cup, the Champions League or a continental title. Kane is the fifth Englishman to win, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen, and the first Bayern player since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. In the women's award, Alexia Putellas won a record-equalling third Ballon d'Or Féminin. Earlier on Monday, organisers said that profiles prepared for several nominees had been published online by mistake and did not reflect the final results.
