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FEATURE
Official: Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d'Or
3 min read
Breaking
Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane has won the 2026 Ballon d’Or after a remarkable season for club and country.
The Three Lions captain has claimed this year’s edition of football’s most prestigious individual prize after scoring a whopping 61 goals for Bayern in 2025/26.
The 33-year-old won a domestic treble with the Munich outfit and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, where eventual champions PSG ultimately prevailed.
At the World Cup in the summer, Kane netted six times as England won bronze after beating France in the third-place playoff. His crucial strikes against DR Congo and Mexico helped his country advance to the semis.
It is fitting that Kane has won the 2026 edition as the ceremony was held in his hometown of London to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the inaugural Ballon d’Or, which was handed to England legend Stanley Matthews in 1956.
Kane is the first English Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen in 2001, ending a 25-year drought. He beat Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and 27 other competitors to this honour.
All told, the 33-year-old scored a ridiculous 73 goals for club and country in 2025/26, which also saw him named Men's Striker of the Year.
Other winners
In addition to the men's and women's Ballon d'Or, several other coveted awards were handed out at the ceremony in London.
The first winner of the night was, somewhat surprisingly, Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona ace won the Kopa Trophy, given to the best young men's player of the season, for the third consecutive year. A sign that he would not win the Ballon d'Or.
The relatively new Women's Young Talent of the Year prize was received by 20-year-old Barcelona attacker Vicky Lopez. Like Yamal, she is a repeat winner, having already claimed the inaugural 2025 edition.
Barcelona Femeni tactician Pere Romeu was named Women's Coach of the Year after leading the Catalans to a quadruple in 2025/26, including the club's fourth UEFA Women's Champions League crown.
The Spanish dominance fittingly continued with Luis de la Fuente, who won Men's Coach of the Year after leading La Roja to the 2026 World Cup title as part of a remarkable 43-game undefeated run.
De la Fuente beat out competition from compatriots Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Luis Enrique and Vincent Kompany, the only non-Spaniard to be nominated.
Barcelona shot-stopper Cata Coll and Athletic Club star Unai Simon, Spain's No.1 during the World Cup, were named Women's and Men's Goalkeepers of the Year.
Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka received the Socrates Award for humanitarian efforts in recognition of his long-standing partnership with the BigShoe Medical Charity, which funds treatment for children from disadvantaged regions.
For the third time in the award's four-year existence, Barcelona Femeni were named Women's Club of the Year as they maintained their hegemony over the domestic and international game.
Unsurprisingly, PSG retained their Men's Club of the Year crown after winning back-to-back Champions Leagues, a domestic Ligue 1 and French Super Cup double, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
2025 Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele collected the award on behalf of the rest of the team, who could not attend due to a scheduling conflict - they beat Lyon 2-0 in a postponed match while the ceremony was happening.
Next up were the Women's and Men's Strikers of the Year awards, which were handed out to Pachuca sharpshooter Charlyn Corral (49 goals) and the aforementioned Kane (73 goals).
Bizarrely, Corral did not make the top 30 shortlist for the Women's Ballon d'Or, whereas compatriot Scarlett Camberos did. The 35-year-old has been critical of this and believes it is due to the fact that Camberos plays for Club America, a bigger, more popular team than Pachuca.
The first of the two showpiece prizes was the 2026 Women's Ballon d'Or, and it was won by Spain legend Alexia Putellas for a third time after 2021 and 2022. She thus drew level with former teammate Aitana Bonmati.
Prior to her move to the London City Lionesses, Alexia had been a crucial part of Barcelona's quadruple-winning squad. In 2025/26, the attacker cracked the 500-appearance mark for the Catalans and became the club's second-highest scorer behind only Lionel Messi.
