Harry Kane claims men’s Ballon d’Or to end England’s 25-year wait for winner | Golden Ball

Harry Kane is the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner, the first Englishman to win football’s most prestigious individual trophy in 25 years.

Two hours into a lavishly exciting ceremony at London’s Palladium Theatre, Kane’s name emerged from the final envelope to wild cheers inside the auditorium. The women’s Ballon d’Or, awarded moments earlier, was won by Alexia Putellas of the London City Lionesses, a third Ballon, five years after her first in the colors of Barcelona.

On the men’s side, Kane finished ahead of co-favorites Lamine Yamal of Barcelona and Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid, a result that will perhaps cause the familiar consternation within those clubs’ hierarchy, not to mention the vast army of online fans attached to the superstar players in Kane’s wake.

But Kane is also a fully deserved winner of football’s ultimate gong. The trophy sponsored by L’Équipe is awarded by a vote of journalists and administrators from the world of football. For Kane, it’s the reward for a year in which he won the European Golden Boot, played a major role in Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title, led England to the World Cup semi-finals and, above all, revealed himself to be a wonderfully humble superstar player.

“It was really tough this year, the amazing players I was against,” Kane said upon receiving the trophy, then congratulating all the other nominees for something else and thanking just about everyone he played with.

“I’m almost speechless. Being here in London has made it even more special,” he added.

As a pure goalscorer, his numbers are astonishing this year, with 89 goals for club and country since the start of August 2025. At Bayern, Kane has also become a darling of the Bundesliga for his all-round game, creativity, intelligence and professionalism. Bayern paid a record €100 million for Kane three years ago, a transfer that broke the club’s usual recruitment patterns and caused some concern, given Kane was 30 at the time.

The fact that this expense is now considered entirely justified is a measure of his contribution on and off the pitch. As a Ballon d’Or winner, Kane now enters rarefied company, heir to a prize that revolved around the Messi-Ronaldo duo for so many years, and which promises not only a form of sporting ultimate but a vast increase in current and future commercial revenues.

More broadly, the award is a crowning moment for Kane himself, following a 16-year professional career that has followed him through loan spells at Leyton Orient and Millwall, racing to success in the Premier League and now, for posterity, in the lineage of elite footballers.

Earlier this month, Kane equaled England’s all-time caps record, while taking his international goals tally to 91 in 125 appearances. Aged 33, he still has a home Euro in two years’ time in his sights as England captain and a final opportunity for a different kind of footballing immortality.