Harry Kane is the Ballon d'Or winner for 2026. The England captain, 33, became the first Englishman to take the prize since Michael Owen in 2001, and only the fifth in all, when the 70th ceremony was staged at the London Palladium on Monday night.
Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid and France finished second. Lamine Yamal of Barcelona and Spain was third. Kane also took the Gerd Muller Trophy for the season's leading scorer. Alexia Putellas won the women's Ballon d'Or for the third time. Jude Bellingham was 11th in the men's list and Declan Rice 15th. Erling Haaland, whose Manchester City side lost their perfect league start at the weekend, was eighth.
London was hosting the ceremony for the first time, in the year that marks 70 years since Stanley Matthews won the first award. The Wembley arches were lit gold after the result. Prince William called Kane a "brilliant captain" and a "remarkable player". England manager Thomas Tuchel said he was "delighted", and called the award a "huge honour".
What the goals actually were
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches last season, the most any Bayern Munich player has managed in a single campaign, in a club that has had Gerd Muller, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Robert Lewandowski. With England added in, it was 73 goals and eight assists in 65 matches. Only Lionel Messi's 82 for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12 sits higher among players in Europe's top leagues.
He was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36, seventeen clear of the next player. He scored 14 in the Champions League, ten in the German Cup, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final win over Stuttgart, and one in the German Super Cup. His 12 goals for England included six at the World Cup. It was still not enough to reach a final. Bayern lost in the Champions League semi-finals. England went out at the same stage of the World Cup.
Speaking to DAZN, Kane said not many people, "maybe even I", would have expected him to get this far. "I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now." He said the early years had grounded him. His previous best finish in this vote was tenth. He is the first Bayern player to win the Ballon d'Or since Rummenigge in 1981.
Ballon d'Or 2026, the Places That Matter
- 1st: Harry Kane, Bayern Munich and England. Also the Gerd Muller Trophy.
- 2nd: Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid and France. 3rd: Lamine Yamal, Barcelona and Spain.
- Englishmen further down: Jude Bellingham 11th, Declan Rice 15th.
- Women's Ballon d'Or: Alexia Putellas, her third.
- Kane's season: 73 goals and eight assists in 65 matches for club and country.
A winner without the biggest cup
In trophy terms, Kane lifted the German double, which more than doubled his career haul, after the Bundesliga the season before. He did not win the World Cup or the Champions League. Since the award was opened beyond European players in 1995, a world champion has taken it in four of seven World Cup years. This is only the fifth time in 20 years that the winner has not also won the World Cup, the Champions League, a European Championship or a Copa America. The other recent cases were Messi three times, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yamal had been among the favourites after winning the World Cup with Spain. Last year's winner was Ousmane Dembele, helped by Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League. Alan Shearer had already told BBC Sport the prize should be Kane's, on numbers that were "absolutely sensational" for Bayern and England. Danny Murphy called the scoring "relentless" and said Kane had been the best centre forward in the world for 12 months.
Whether he can keep it
This season Kane has 10 goals in 12 games for Bayern and six in four Nations League matches for England: 16 in 16. Bayern are unbeaten in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. There is no World Cup, European Championship or Copa America in the coming year, which is the sort of calendar in which a goalscorer at a dominant club can be hard to shift. The last man other than Messi or Ronaldo to win the award in successive years was Marco van Basten in 1988 and 1989.
Yamal will be the counter-argument. He has finished second and third across the past two votes, and has 10 goals and 10 assists in 13 games for Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League. He would be the youngest winner, at 20, if he takes it next year. The youngest remains the Brazilian Ronaldo, who was 21 in 1997. Mbappe, still without a Ballon d'Or, has 14 goals in 13 appearances for club and country. Arsenal, who have never had a winner, are in the Carabao Cup tonight.
If you read our preview before the Palladium lights went up, Kane was already the favourite. The vote has now caught up with the season.