Harry Kane wins the Ballon d'Or after a 73-goal season

Harry Kane, the England captain and Bayern Munich striker, won the 2026 Ballon d'Or on Monday, becoming the first Englishman in 25 years to be named the world's best male footballer.

The 33-year-old received the award at the London Palladium, the first time the ceremony has been held in the British capital. He finished ahead of Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, who were regarded as his main rivals for the prize. Kane also collected the Gerd Müller Trophy as the season's best striker earlier in the evening.

He is the fifth English player to win the Ballon d'Or, after Stanley Matthews in 1956, Bobby Charlton in 1966, Kevin Keegan in 1978 and 1979, and Michael Owen in 2001. He is also the first player from a Bundesliga club to win since Matthias Sammer of Borussia Dortmund in 1996, and the first from Bayern since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.

A 73-goal season

Kane's case rested on the most prolific season of his career. He scored 61 goals for Bayern in all competitions in 2025-26, the most by any player in Europe's five biggest leagues since Cristiano Ronaldo also scored 61 for Real Madrid in 2014-15. He added 12 for England, taking his total for club and country to 73 goals, with eight assists.

The goals came with trophies. Bayern won the Bundesliga and the German Cup, and Kane finished as the league's top scorer for the third season in a row, which also earned him the European Golden Shoe for the second time. Bayern's run in the Champions League ended in the semifinals, where Paris Saint-Germain beat them 6-5 on aggregate.

At the World Cup in North America, Kane scored six goals as England reached the semifinals, making him the country's all-time leading scorer at the tournament. England then beat France 6-4 in the third-place match on July 18 to take the bronze medal.

His closest rivals each had a strong claim. Mbappé scored 58 goals in all competitions and won the Golden Boot at the World Cup with 10 goals, but did not win a trophy with Real Madrid or France. Yamal, 19, won La Liga with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain, though he scored only once at the tournament after coming back from a hamstring injury in April. Yamal won the Kopa Trophy for the best young player for a third straight year on Monday.

From Tottenham to Munich

The award ends a long wait for individual recognition at the very top for a player who spent most of his career without a team trophy. Kane came through Tottenham Hotspur's academy and became the club's all-time leading scorer, and his 213 Premier League goals are second only to Alan Shearer's in the league's history. He was the Premier League's top scorer three times, but lost the 2019 Champions League final with Tottenham and the 2020 and 2024 European Championship finals with England.

Bayern signed him from Tottenham in August 2023 for a fee reported at more than €100 million ($112 million), a club record. He has scored 156 goals in 158 matches for the club and won his first major trophy, the Bundesliga title, in 2025.

Earlier this month, Kane agreed in principle to extend his contract with Bayern until the summer of 2029. His current deal runs until 2027.

Before the ceremony, Kane said he wanted to win the award for himself, for Bayern and for his children, who he said would want to play with the trophy the next day.