The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony was held in London, United Kingdom. Harry Kane, the 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker and England captain, was crowned the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner, claiming this prestigious honour for the first time in his career! Kane is also the first English player to win the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001, ending a 25-year drought.
Across the 2025/26 campaign, Kane made 51 appearances for Bayern Munich in all competitions, scoring 61 goals and providing 7 assists. His breakdown reads: 36 goals in 31 Bundesliga matches, 14 goals in 13 Champions League fixtures, 10 goals in 6 DFB-Pokal games, and 1 goal in the single DFL-Supercup match. Kane lifted three trophies with Bayern that season: the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup. Individually, he won the Bundesliga Golden Boot for a third straight season. With his 36 league strikes, he claimed the European Golden Shoe for the second time in his career.
On the international stage, Kane earned 14 caps for England during the Ballon d’Or voting window, netting 12 goals and registering one assist. At the 2026 World Cup, he scored 6 goals and set up one assist across seven games, guiding England to a third-place finish. Combining his club and national-team returns, Kane totalled 65 appearances, 73 goals and 8 assists over the qualifying period.
A product of Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, Kane grew into the club’s all-time top scorer during his spell in north London, yet he never secured a major trophy with the side. In the summer of 2023, the 30-year-old sealed a €95 million move from Tottenham to Bayern Munich. He went trophy-less in his debut season at the club, before ending his silverware drought by winning the Bundesliga title with Bayern in 2024/25. In 2025/26, Kane helped Bayern sweep the three domestic honours, and now, aged 33, he has climbed to the pinnacle by lifting the Ballon d’Or.
Kane is the fifth English player ever to win the Ballon d’Or. The previous four are Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966), Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979) and Michael Owen (2001).
Furthermore, Kane is the first Bayern player to win the Ballon d’Or since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981, ending a 45-year wait. He is also the first Bundesliga representative to claim the award since Matthias Sammer in 1996, after a 30-year gap.
