Kane wins Ballon d'Or, first English player in 25 years

Beats Yamal, Mbappe; first Bayern winner in 45 years

Also takes striker award; Son Heung-min cheers on social media

Harry Kane kisses the trophy after being named the men's Ballon d'Or winner at the 2026 ceremony held at the London Palladium in London on Tuesday (Korean Standard Time). Kane became the first English player to win the award in 25 years. [AFP]

Harry Kane, 33, has won the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career, becoming the first English player to claim football's most prestigious individual award in 25 years.

Kane was named the men's winner at the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony held Tuesday (Korean Standard Time) at the London Palladium, beating out strong competition including Lamine Yamal of Spain and Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe of France and Real Madrid.

The last English player to win the award was Michael Owen in 2001. Kane became the fifth English winner in the award's history, following inaugural recipient Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966), Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) and Owen. It is also the first time a Bayern Munich player has won since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981, a gap of 45 years.

Kane completed a double by also claiming the best striker award — formerly known as the Gerd Muller Trophy — making him a two-time winner of that prize after sharing it with Mbappe in 2024.

Across the 2025-2026 season, Kane scored 73 goals and added eight assists in 65 appearances for club and country. He finished as the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals, winning the golden boot for the third consecutive season, and also claimed the European Golden Shoe as the leading scorer across European leagues.

In all competitions for Bayern Munich, he scored 61 goals in 51 matches, setting a new club record for goals in a single season. He contributed to Bayern's Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal triumph. For England, he scored 12 goals in 14 appearances, including six at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, helping the national team finish third.

Harry Kane gestures during a 2026-2027 Bundesliga match against Freiburg at Europapark Stadion in Freiburg, Germany, on Sunday (Korean Standard Time). [Getty Images]

Son Heung-min, 34, of LAFC — Kane's former strike partner at Tottenham Hotspur — cheered on his old teammate ahead of the ceremony. Son left a comment on a video of Kane's highlights posted by Bayern Munich on social media, writing "Just wow" alongside GOAT, gold medal and trophy emojis.

The ceremony was also preceded by a brief controversy involving the award's official website, which appeared to prematurely reveal the winner.

Before the ceremony began, articles introducing Kane, Yamal and Mbappe each as the men's winner were briefly published on the official Ballon d'Or website before being taken down. The simultaneous appearance of articles naming different winners fueled speculation that the actual result had leaked in advance.

The organizers said the articles had been prepared in advance for each possible winner and were published by mistake, adding that they did not reflect the actual voting results or rankings.

The Ballon d'Or was established in 1956 by French football magazine France Football and is awarded based on votes from football journalists around the world. This year's ceremony was held in London for the first time, moving away from its traditional home of Paris in honor of inaugural winner Matthews.

Harry Kane, left, of England and Alexia Putellas of Spain pose with their trophies after winning the men's and women's Ballon d'Or awards, respectively, at the 2026 ceremony held at the London Palladium on Tuesday (Korean Standard Time). [AP]

yjc@heraldcorp.com