The award was presented Tuesday at the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony at the London Palladium. Kane is the 5th English player to win the prestigious award, following Stanley Matthews in 1956, Bobby Charlton in 1966, Kevin Keegan in 1978 and 1979, and Michael Owen in 2001.
Kane also won the 2026 Gerd Müller Trophy, awarded to the best striker in men’s football. In the past year, he scored 73 goals in 65 appearances for Bayern Munich and the England national team.
In his acceptance speech, Kane paid tribute to those who helped him reach the pinnacle of his career, including his teammates at Bayern Munich and the England national team, as well as Tottenham Hotspur, where he developed as a player.
“To my Bayern Munich teammates – I’ve got a few here tonight, Michael, Upa, Lucho, Lenny, without you guys and the rest of the team, it wouldn’t be possible. The way you guys push me, the way we compete, me against Upa in training every week, it just makes me a better player, it makes me want to improve. So thank you very much,” he said.
Meanwhile, Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas of London City Lionesses won the 2026 Women’s Ballon d’Or, adding to her previous victories in 2021 and 2022. The 32-year-old equaled the record of her compatriot Aitana Bonmatí, who won the award three consecutive times from 2023 to 2025.
Other awards presented at the ceremony included the Men’s Silver Ball, awarded to Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid, and the Men’s Bronze Ball, which went to Lamine Yamal of Barcelona. Yamal also won the Best Men’s Young Player award.
Barcelona was named Women’s Club of the Year, while Paris Saint-Germain won the Men’s Club of the Year award.
The Ballon d’Or was established by French magazine France Football, based on an idea by journalists Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, to honor outstanding football players. Initially, the award was open only to European players before its eligibility criteria were expanded. The Women’s Ballon d’Or was first presented in 2018. This year, each of the men’s and women’s categories had 30 nominees.
The 2026 race featured Kylian Mbappé of France, Lamine Yamal of Spain, Harry Kane of England, Erling Haaland of Norway, and Lionel Messi of Argentina. Winners are determined by the vote of journalists representing countries at the top of the FIFA rankings, with 100 voters for the men’s award and 50 for the women’s award.
This year’s ceremony is the first since 2019 to be held outside the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The change of venue to the London Palladium marks the 70th anniversary of the Ballon d’Or, which was first awarded to English football legend Stanley Matthews in 1956.
