Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or on Monday night in London, beating Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal.
At the London Palladium ceremony, Kane became the first Englishman to receive the award since Michael Owen in 2001.
Kane scored 73 goals across all competitions for club and country last season. Mbappe’s 58 was 15 fewer.
Kane’s season outscored Mbappe’s
Kane and Mbappe
Harry Kane
Bayern Munich
- 73 goals across all competitions for club and country last season
- Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga title
Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid
- 58 goals, 15 fewer than Kane
- Real Madrid finished trophyless for the second successive season since signing Mbappe
In the Champions League, Bayern Munich reached the final four after knocking out Mbappe’s Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Both players reached the World Cup semi-finals. Mbappe won the Golden Boot.
An English winner after Owen
Kane is the fifth Englishman to lift the award, following Stanley Matthews in 1956, Bobby Charlton in 1966, Kevin Keegan in 1978 and 1979, and Owen in 2001.
- 1956Stanley Matthews
Won the Ballon d’Or.
- 1966Bobby Charlton
Won the Ballon d’Or.
- 1978, 1979Kevin Keegan
Won the Ballon d’Or in both years.
- 2001Michael Owen
Was the last player from England to receive the award before Kane.
- 2026Harry Kane
Became the fifth Englishman to win the prize.
It feels really, really like a dream.
England head coach Thomas Tuchel welcomed the recognition, saying he’d run out of superlatives for Kane’s performances a long time ago.
I ran out of superlatives to describe your performances a long time ago, but I'm delighted to see that you have now been formally recognised by the football world
Kane and the club had developed together and reached their highest aims together, Bayern president Herbert Hainer said.
The club and Harry Kane have got together, grown together and achieved the highest aims together
Kane said he’d been rested for Bayern’s match against Magdeburg, even though he could have played. Bayern’s assistant coach Aaron Danks had planned to give him a break before the award was announced, he said.
Kane said he’d train the day after the Magdeburg match and be ready for Saturday’s game.
