Kane has 61 goals and seven assists for Bayern in 51 appearances, plus 12 goals and one assist in 14 England matches between 1 July 2025 and 19 July 2026.
France Football presents the Ballon d'Or on Monday, 26 October 2026 at 21:00 Central European Time at the London Palladium.
Lamine Yamal, 19, Rodri and Kylian Mbappé all have arguments, with Mbappé the top scorer at the World Cup, in the Champions League and in LaLiga.
The former Bayern chief executive, who won the award in 1980 and 1981, cited 73 goals in 65 competitive matches in his column for Münchner Merkur/tz.
Bayern lost the Champions League semi-final to Paris Saint-Germain, and England lost the World Cup semi-final to Argentina before finishing third.
Harry Kane is the leading name in the field for the Ballon d'Or, which France Football presents on Monday, 26 October 2026 at 21:00 Central European Time in London, the striker's home city. The Bayern forward has 61 goals and seven assists in 51 appearances for the club, and 12 goals and one assist in 14 matches for England between 1 July 2025 and 19 July 2026. Seven of his England goal contributions came at the World Cup, where the Three Lions finished third, their best showing at the tournament since 1966. Bayern won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, but the league carries less global prestige than its profile suggests, since Bayern are almost unchallenged there.
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Kane has yet to win a big international trophy. Bayern lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final, the eventual winners, and England lost to Argentina in the World Cup semi-final before taking third place. Lamine Yamal, 19, won the Spanish league with Barcelona but his side exited the Champions League in the quarter-finals, and he has scored far fewer goals than Kane. Rodri was named the World Cup's best player despite a disappointing season at Manchester City. Kylian Mbappé was the top scorer at the World Cup, in the Champions League and in LaLiga, yet France lost the World Cup semi-final to Spain and he has no trophy with Real Madrid. Lionel Messi, 39, the record winner, and Michael Olise, Kane's Bayern teammate, are also in the conversation. Spain's national coach Luis de la Fuente has argued that a Spanish player should win, saying his country's players are the best in the world in many respects.
Kane spoke on Wednesday, 21 October, about the strain of waiting for the result. He said his wife would prefer to know in advance, and that his family found the wait very stressful. Voting has already closed, so the goal and assist he produced in Bayern's 2-2 Champions League draw with Arsenal that same evening cannot count, though the striker said the performance could not hurt. He told DAZN that winning the award would be unbelievable and described his past season as fantastic.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who won the award in 1980 and 1981 and later served as Bayern's chief executive, praised Kane in a column for Münchner Merkur/tz. He pointed to 73 goals in 65 competitive matches as part of the case for Kane as his possible successor. Rummenigge wrote that Kane had moved from a pure box striker to a team-minded playmaker-forward, and he called the striker grounded and free of airs.
“Harry Kane shows that you can belong to the best in the world without constantly putting himself at the centre of attention.”
Markus Babbel, a Euro 1996 winner and former Bayern player, rejected the vote outright and said he would scrap individual awards in a team sport. He mocked the clubs and fans who take offence when their players are overlooked. Even so, Babbel called Kane the most eye-catching player in the top leagues.
“For me, that is the biggest clown contest there is in the world.”
The run-up runs from Wednesday's Arsenal match to Monday's ceremony in London. Rummenigge's column appeared on Saturday, 24 October, and the ballot result is due at the gala on Monday, 26 October.
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Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane is widely seen as the favourite when France Football presents the Ballon d'Or on Monday, 26 October, at the London Palladium. Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Kylian Mbappé each have claims of their own.
AI text based on reports by RP Online, Bayerischer Rundfunk, N-tv and other publishers. Published . How it is made