Harry Kane wins Ballon d'Or in London as Alexia Putellas takes women's award

Kane takes the men's prize

Harry Kane, the Bayern Munich forward and England captain, was named Ballon d'Or winner at a gala in London on Monday evening, 26 October. The 33-year-old is the first Englishman to receive the trophy since it was extended to the world's best player in 2007, and no German professional was among the 30 nominees. In the journalists' vote he finished ahead of Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and three Bayern teammates, Luis Díaz, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano. He also took the award for the best striker, the Gerd Müller Trophy.

The prize is presented by the French football magazine France Football and UEFA, and each voter was a journalist from one of the top 100 nations in the FIFA world rankings. Kane scored 73 goals in 65 competitive matches for club and country over the past season. Of those, 61 came in 51 games for Bayern and 12 for England, six of them at the World Cup this summer. Bayern won the league and cup double but again missed out on the Champions League.

Bayern Munich61

England12

Bayern Munich

61 goals

England

12 goals

Data from the article text

Bayern chief Jan-Christian Dreesen praised the striker as a model professional.

“A world star without airs, and at the same time a gentleman who is an outstanding role model on and off the pitch.”

Former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß called Kane a figurehead for the club and said he was crazy about him. Kane's wife, Katie Goodland, walked in with him, and he had earlier signed autographs for fans after arriving in a minibus with his Bayern teammates.

Putellas wins a third women's title

Alexia Putellas won the women's award for a third time, after her earlier wins in 2021 and 2022. The 32-year-old Spaniard left FC Barcelona for the London City Lionesses in the summer. She beat Ewa Pajor and Khadija Shaw in the vote. Her season included Barcelona's triple of league, cup and Champions League, as well as Spain's Nations League title. Bayern's Klara Bühl, the only German professional among the finalists, finished 12th of 30.

Barcelona and Spain sweep the other prizes

Lamine Yamal won the under-21 award again, as he did in 2025, leaving the Swiss nominee Johan Manzambi in 10th place. Vicky López, a Barcelona midfielder, won the women's young talent prize, as she did the year before. Unai Simón took the men's goalkeeper award and Cata Coll the women's, while Luis de la Fuente was named best coach for Spain's World Cup title. Switzerland's Gregor Kobel, also 10th on the goalkeeper shortlist, went home without a prize.

Leaked portraits and a late start

The organisers admitted that some prepared winner portraits had been published online by mistake before the result was announced. Articles about Kane, Mbappé and Yamal could be found online, although the organisers said the texts had been written in advance for every nominee and gave nothing away. The gala at the Palladium Theatre near Oxford Circus began at least half an hour late, which was blamed on London traffic and crowds of fans. No new start time was given. Kane told DAZN that this had been by far his best season.