Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or after a 73-goal season
The Bayern Munich and England striker beat Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal at London's Palladium. He is the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001. Vitinha, third last year, was the best Portuguese in 14th.
Harry Kane has won the Ballon d’Or. The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker and England captain collected the award at the Palladium in London on Monday night, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal.
The Bundesliga confirmed the win with a stat that puts it in context. He is the first player from a German club to take it since Matthias Sammer in 1996. He is also the first Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001.
The season that did it
Kane scored 73 goals in 2025/26 across Bayern and England. That breaks down as 36 in the Bundesliga, 14 in 13 Champions League games on the way to the semi-finals, and a hat-trick in the German Cup final against Stuttgart that sealed a domestic double for Vincent Kompany’s side.
Then came the summer. Six goals at the World Cup and an England side that finished third, their best showing since 1966, signed off by that 6-4 bronze-medal win over France.
He also took home the Best Striker trophy on the same night.
A quieter night for Portugal
Vitinha, third a year ago, was again the highest-placed Portuguese player but slipped to 14th. João Neves repeated last year’s 19th, Nuno Mendes came 23rd and Bruno Fernandes 27th. No Portuguese player made the top ten.
There was some consolation at club level. Paris Saint-Germain, home to three of those four, was named men’s club of the year.
The rest of the winners
Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or again. Lamine Yamal took the young player award, Unai Simón the goalkeeper prize and Luis de la Fuente coach of the year. Barcelona were women’s club of the year and Bukayo Saka received the Sócrates Award.
Spain, world champions since July, swept most of the supporting prizes. The big one went to the man who came home with bronze.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)