Will FC Bayern soon have the reigning Ballon d’Or winner in their ranks? As far as Uli Hoeneß is concerned, there can only be one winner – and it is certainly not Lionel Messi.
Lamine Yamal has already taken a proactive stance on the matter, as has Kylian Mbappé. Only Harry Kane, who is not one for grand or even self-indulgent statements anyway, prefers to remain silent on the question of who deserves the 2026 Ballon d’Or. At FC Bayern, however, no one has any doubts about this year’s rightful winner.
“He would be extremely deserving,” Uli Hoeneß has now emphasised in the AZ, referring to Kane. “And I also hope that he gets it.” Unlike his rivals, Bayern’s honorary president attests that the winner of the Golden Shoe and the *kicker* top scorer award has had an “outstanding season across all competitions” and asks rhetorically: “If he doesn’t deserve it this year, when will he?”
Mbappé “didn’t even win the Spanish league”
Kane’s biggest rivals this year include Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona), Mbappé (Real Madrid) and also record Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi (Inter Miami). Hoeneß’s clear view: “Giving Messi the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time” – in reality, the Argentine has already won it eight times – “I think that’s nonsense”.
Mbappé finished as the Champions League top scorer with 15 goals, just ahead of Kane (14), and was also the top scorer at the 2026 World Cup with ten goals (Messi/8, Kane/6). However, Hoeneß points out that the Frenchman “didn’t even win the Spanish league title” with Real Madrid. “They didn’t win a single title – whereas we won two.”
Kane currently has the best odds with the bookmakers, but that may not mean anything when the votes of 100 journalists are revealed in London on 26 October and the winner is announced. Last year, Ousmane Dembélé triumphed, having once again won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain this past season.
Kane’s record includes 73 competitive goals across all competitions, as well as the domestic league and DFB-Pokal double. In the Champions League and at the World Cup, he reached the semi-finals with Bayern and England respectively.