First Bundesliga professional since 1996: Kane wins the Ballon d’Or

Harry Kane has won the 2026 Ballon d’Or. The FC Bayern striker received the prestigious individual award in London.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the award, the Ballon d’Or ceremony took place in London for the first time, rather than in Paris as is customary. Fittingly, the prize for the world’s best footballer went to a London-born player: Harry Kane has been awarded the 2026 Ballon d’Or. The 33-year-old is the first Englishman since Michael Owen (2001) to receive the prestigious award – and the first Bundesliga player since Matthias Sammer (1996).

With 61 goals in 51 competitive matches, Kane played a decisive role in Bayern Munich’s double victory – the league title and the cup – last season. In the Champions League, he and the Munich side were only knocked out in the semi-finals by the eventual winners, Paris St Germain.

Kane was also in contention for the title for much of the World Cup this summer: he finished third with the England national team at the finals in North America, captaining the Three Lions onto the pitch and scoring six goals in the tournament.

As well as his statistics, Kane’s style of play also provided strong grounds for his award: The Englishman regularly stands out not only as a goalscorer but also by actively participating in building up play. To do so, he sometimes drops deep into his own half – a rather unusual interpretation of the striker’s role to date.

Kane succeeds Ousmane Dembélé as Ballon d’Or winner, who had received the award the previous year. The Frenchman was also nominated this year, but was not considered among the frontrunners. Kane’s main rivals, however, included Lamine Yamal – who won the World Cup with Spain and the Spanish league title with FC Barcelona – and Kylian Mbappé. However, both came off second best to Kane in the journalists’ vote, organised by the French football magazine *France Football* and UEFA. Mbappé came second, whilst Lamine Yamal – who won the Kopa Trophy for the third year running – finished, somewhat surprisingly, in third place.