Harry Kane has ended England's 25-year wait for a Ballon d'Or winner, claiming the prestigious award for the first time. The Bayern Munich striker is the first Englishman to win football's top individual prize since Michael Owen in 2001, becoming only the fifth English player ever to do so.
Kane's victory was built on a phenomenal 2025/26 season where he scored 73 goals in 65 matches for club and country. For Bayern alone, he netted 61 times in 51 games, a club record for a single campaign. His tally of 73 goals was 19 more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues last season. Only Lionel Messi's 82-goal season in 2011-12 stands above Kane's total in the modern era, surpassing the previous best marks set by Erling Haaland and Luis Suarez.
Record-Breaking Season
His relentless scoring included 36 Bundesliga goals, 14 in the Champions League, and a remarkable 10 in the German Cup, where he scored a hat-trick in the final. For England, he added 12 goals, including six in four Nations League matches. The 33-year-old also won the European Golden Boot and played a major role in Bayern Munich's Bundesliga title win. Kane's previous best Ballon d'Or finish was 10th, making this year's victory a dramatic ascent.
Historic Achievement
Kane finished ahead of Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal in the voting. He is also the first Bayern Munich player to win the award since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. The win places him alongside English footballing legends Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, and Michael Owen. To celebrate the achievement, the Wembley Stadium arches were lit up in gold.
The striker's career has seen him rise from loan spells in the Football League to the pinnacle of the global game. He now has 91 international goals and recently equalled England's all-time caps record with 125 appearances. His form has continued into the new season, with 16 goals in his first 16 games for Bayern. Kane's next match is for Bayern Munich against Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.
Read the full report at bbc.co.uk
