Ballon d'Or 2026 Winner: Harry Kane Ends England's 25-Year Wait

Harry Kane is the Ballon d'Or 2026 winner. The Bayern Munich striker and England captain took the 70th edition at the London Palladium on Monday night, 26 October, with Kylian Mbappé second and Lamine Yamal third. He's the first Englishman to win it since Michael Owen in 2001, and only the fifth ever. Last week we went through which Kane Ballon d'Or rumours were actually confirmed. Now it's official.

Key facts at a glance

Award: Men's Ballon d'Or, 70th edition, run by France Football
Winner: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, England), age 33
Podium: 2. Kylian Mbappé, 3. Lamine Yamal
Venue: London Palladium, Monday 26 Oct 2026
Announced: About 22:51 GMT (01:51 Tuesday, Riyadh)
His season: 73 goals and 8 assists in 65 games for club and country

Key points

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 Bayern games last season, a club record for one campaign, BBC Sport reported.
He's the first Bayern player to win since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.
Alexia Putellas won the women's Ballon d'Or for the third time.

Why Kane is the Ballon d'Or 2026 winner

Goals. That's most of the answer. Per BBC Sport, Kane hit 36 in the Bundesliga, 17 clear of anyone else, plus 14 in the Champions League and 10 in the German Cup, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final against Stuttgart. Add 12 for England, six of them at the World Cup, and you get 73. Only Lionel Messi, with 82 in 2011-12, has scored more in a season for a club in Europe's big leagues.

The odd part is what he didn't win. Bayern and England both went out in semi-finals, in the Champions League and at the World Cup. BBC Sport counts this as only the fifth time in 20 years that the prize skipped a player who'd won the World Cup, the Champions League, the Euros or the Copa América. Yamal won the World Cup with Spain and still finished third. My read: 73 goals was too big to ignore, and the German double helped.

His previous best finish was 10th. Bayern paid a record €100m for him at 30, The Guardian notes. Nobody calls that a gamble now.

The 2026 top 10

The official ranking on ballondor.com matches BBC Sport and ESPN.

Rank	Player	Club	Country
1	Harry Kane	Bayern Munich	England
2	Kylian Mbappé	Real Madrid	France
3	Lamine Yamal	Barcelona	Spain
4	Rodri	Man City / Barcelona	Spain
5	Lionel Messi	Inter Miami	Argentina
6	Khvicha Kvaratskhelia	PSG	Georgia
7	Ousmane Dembélé	PSG	France
8	Erling Haaland	Man City	Norway
9	Michael Olise	Bayern Munich	France
10	Fabián Ruiz	PSG	Spain

Jude Bellingham came 11th. Mbappé and Yamal met the day before the gala, so here's our Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid match report.

The other winners on the night

Award	Men	Women
Ballon d'Or	Harry Kane	Alexia Putellas
Kopa Trophy (young player)	Lamine Yamal	Vicky López
Yashin Trophy (goalkeeper)	Unai Simón	Cata Coll
Gerd Müller Trophy (striker)	Harry Kane	Charlyn Corral
Johan Cruyff Trophy (coach)	Luis de la Fuente	Pere Romeu
Club of the Year	Paris Saint-Germain	Barcelona
Sócrates Award	Bukayo Saka

How the vote works

The men's prize is voted on by 100 journalists from around the world, ESPN reported. Sports Mole lists the window as 3 August 2025 to 19 July 2026, the day of the World Cup final, and the criteria in order: individual performances, then team results and titles, then class and fair play. A record scoring season beat a World Cup winner's medal.

The votes were in by the end of September, per BBC Sport. That didn't stop a mess on the day. At 17:15 GMT, an article titled "Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or" spread from the official site. The site had pre-written pieces for every favourite, and a spokesperson told the BBC they were "inadvertently published".

England's 25-year wait

Before Monday, the English list was Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966), Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) and Owen (2001). Matthews won the very first one, which is why France Football moved the 70th gala to London. ESPN and CBS Sports both gave that reason.

Kane didn't look like the man to end the drought, and he knows it. "I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now," he told DAZN, quoted by BBC Sport. On stage he said: "I am almost speechless. Being here in London has made it extra special." Wembley's arch was lit gold afterwards.

What's next

Kane has 16 goals in 16 games for club and country so far this season, BBC Sport says, and Bayern are unbeaten in the Bundesliga and Champions League. We had them at Freiburg in our Sunday matchday preview. No player other than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo has won it twice in a row since Marco van Basten in 1989. With no World Cup or Euros in 2026-27, a Bayern treble would make Kane hard to beat again.

FAQ

Who won the Ballon d'Or 2026?

Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and England. Kylian Mbappé was second and Lamine Yamal third.

Where was the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony?

The London Palladium, on Monday 26 October 2026.

How many goals did Harry Kane score to win it?

73 for Bayern and England in 2025-26, with 8 assists in 65 games. Sixty-one of those came for Bayern.

Who was the last Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or before Kane?

Michael Owen, with Liverpool, in 2001.

Who won the women's Ballon d'Or 2026?

Alexia Putellas, for the third time. Ewa Pajor was second and Khadija Shaw third.

How we checked this

I checked the winner, podium and top 10 against the official ranking on ballondor.com, BBC Sport and ESPN on the morning of 27 October, Riyadh time. Goal numbers come from BBC Sport. I cross-checked the other awards between BBC Sport, ESPN and The Guardian. The views on why he won are mine. Abdullah Al-Janoubi

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