Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or in London on Monday night, ending a 25-year wait for an English winner of football's most prestigious individual prize, as Alexia Putellas claimed the women's award for a third time. The Bayern Munich and England captain was crowned at the Palladium Theatre after a season of extraordinary goalscoring, while Putellas capped a triumphant campaign with Barcelona by joining Aitana Bonmatí as the most decorated winner in the history of the women's prize.

Kane, 33, finished ahead of Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal in the voting for the 70th Ballon d'Or, the first ceremony ever staged on English soil. Putellas, 32, beat Poland striker Ewa Pajor and Manchester City's Khadija Shaw to the Ballon d'Or Féminin, four years after her second win, in a night that underlined both the enduring power of proven goalscorers and the remarkable dominance of Spanish women's football.

Key Points

• Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or, the first Englishman to do so since Michael Owen in 2001.
• Kane scored 73 goals for club and country last season and captained England to third place at the World Cup.
• Kylian Mbappé finished second and Lamine Yamal third; Yamal won the young-player award for a third straight year.
• Alexia Putellas won her third women's Ballon d'Or, level with Aitana Bonmatí, after leading Barcelona to a fourth Champions League title.
• The London ceremony was delayed by traffic, after the Ballon d'Or website briefly published three different winners hours earlier.

What Happened

The ceremony, presented by France Football, began late on Monday, October 26, after London traffic delayed the arrival of many of the game's biggest names by almost an hour. When the night finally got under way, it produced a hometown ending: Kane, born in London and raised through Tottenham Hotspur's academy, collected the golden ball trophy in his native city, telling the audience that winning in London had felt like a good omen.

"Wow, I'm almost speechless," Kane said on stage. "First of all, thanks again to France Football and the Ballon d'Or for this amazing event. Being in London, it is extra special; it felt like a good omen. Thank you to everyone for voting for me. I can imagine it was very tough."

Kane thanked England, Bayern and former club Tottenham, as well as his teammates, coaches, parents and children — joking that it was past their bedtime — and his wife Kate, whom he called his best friend and biggest supporter. "You always want the best for me," he said.

The voting order behind Kane told its own story about the current shape of world football. Mbappé, whose France side England beat in the World Cup third-place match, finished second. Yamal, the teenage Barcelona winger who has already become one of the sport's defining talents, finished third and was named best young talent for a third consecutive year. Rodri, the 2024 winner, and Lionel Messi, the record eight-time winner, completed the leading group.

Earlier in the evening, the ceremony had been thrown into confusion when the Ballon d'Or website published three separate articles naming Kane, Yamal and Mbappé as the winner, hours before the trophy was presented. The leak, swiftly removed, only added to the anticipation in a room full of world-class players, coaches and former winners.

Background and Context

Kane's victory was built on the most prolific season of his career. He scored 73 goals for club and country last season, finishing as Europe's top scorer, and added eight assists for 81 goal involvements in total. For Bayern Munich he led the club to the Bundesliga and German Cup double, scoring a hat-trick against Stuttgart in the cup final, with Bayern also reaching the Champions League semi-finals. India Today also credits him with helping Bayern win the German Super Cup.

At the World Cup, Kane scored six times as England reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Argentina, before beating Mbappé's France for third place — England's best World Cup placing in 60 years. Those six goals took him past Gary Lineker as England's all-time leading World Cup scorer and placed him among the top five scorers in tournament history.

The award completes a remarkable turnaround in Kane's trophy story. Despite becoming England and Tottenham's all-time record goalscorer, his medal collection had long been limited. He was on the losing side for Spurs in the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool and tasted bitter defeat in two European Championship finals with England. His move to Bayern in 2023, which he has described as a risk taken in search of improvement, finally brought team honours — and now the highest individual award in football.

"Making the move to Bayern Munich was a big step in my career," Kane told AFP earlier. "Some people saw it as a risk but for me it was always about improving and seeing if I could get better around the team-mates, the team, the club and it has pushed me onto another level."

The Ballon d'Or has been awarded to the world's top men's player since 1956 by France Football magazine, with the women's award introduced in 2018. Kane is the first Englishman to win the men's prize since Owen in 2001, ending a quarter-century in which English players came close but never quite reached the top of the ballot.

Ballon d'Or 2026: Kane's Journey From Loans to the Golden Ball

Kane's acceptance speech returned again and again to the long road behind the triumph. He was not, by his own account, the teenager who went straight to the top. His early career was shaped by loan spells in the lower divisions of English football, by setbacks and by the need to fight for every opportunity at Tottenham before he became the club's record scorer.

"Anything is possible with hard work, when no one else is watching, to go through the ups and downs, to learn through resilience, determination and self-belief," an emotional Kane said in a message to young players, after reflecting on his early career struggles. "My journey wasn't straightforward. I wasn't the kid who went straight to the top. I had to experience the downs. I had to fight my way to be the very best right now. I hope that can give you inspiration as well."

"I love to represent my country and to bring this trophy back to them and have an English winner I think is something that's really, really special, especially here in London," he told AFP. "What a crazy night and I'm really, really happy."

That message — that a career built slowly, through loans and disappointments, can end at the very top — is likely to be the most repeated line of the night. For England supporters, it also carries a wider meaning: the captain who has carried the national team through a decade of near-misses now holds the individual prize that eluded every English player of his generation.

Reactions and Quotes

Reaction across football on Monday night and Tuesday morning centred on two themes: admiration for Kane's numbers and delight at the story behind them. The Bundesliga celebrated its star with a display at the Tate Modern Gallery in London, while supporters and former players pointed to the symmetry of an English winner being crowned in London, 25 years after Owen.

Putellas, meanwhile, was celebrated for a comeback that mirrors Kane's persistence in its own way. After winning the women's award in 2021 and 2022, she suffered a serious knee injury in July 2022 that ruled her out of that summer's European Championship. Her return to full fitness, and then to the top of the women's game, was completed on Monday night.

"I have to confess that after the first one, I looked at the multiple winners. I immediately wanted to be part of them," she told France Football after her second win. "The name that struck me most was Johan Cruyff. He has three, right? I want to go and put my name alongside his. An even bigger challenge. One more in my life."

She has now done exactly that. Her third trophy puts her level with Bonmatí as the woman who has won the most, and matches the three won by Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Cruyff in the men's game.

Yamal, for his part, used his young-player honour to make a characteristically confident point, telling reporters that Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí should have won it — a remark that drew laughter and underlined how much talent Barcelona currently holds in its young ranks.

Putellas and the Women's Game

Putellas won her third Ballon d'Or Féminin after a season in which she scored seven goals and provided seven assists as Barcelona won a fourth UEFA Women's Champions League title in 2025-26. She captained Barcelona to a 4-0 win over Lyon in the final and was named the competition's Player of the Season. She also scored nine goals as Barcelona defended its Liga F crown, winning the league for a seventh consecutive season.

She left Barcelona in the summer to join the London City Lionesses, although the award's judging period came to a close before that move. Bonmatí, her Barcelona teammate and the winner in 2023, 2024 and 2025, missed significant time in 2026 because of a leg fracture suffered at the end of 2025, clearing the way for Putellas to reclaim the prize.

Putellas was also Player of the Finals while winning the 2025 UEFA Women's Nations League with Spain. Barcelona's dominance of the women's award continued elsewhere on the night: the club was named Women's Club of the Year after a quadruple in 2025-26, coach Pere Romeu was named Women's Coach of the Year, 20-year-old Vicky López was Women's Young Talent of the Year, and Cata Coll was Women's Goalkeeper of the Year after keeping 23 clean sheets in 39 matches with Spain and Barcelona.

The full women's top 10 was Putellas, Pajor, Shaw, Melchie Dumornay, Patri Guijarro, Caroline Graham Hansen, Pernille Harder, Claudia Pina, Alessia Russo and Temwa Chawinga. Pajor's case was strong — she scored 11 goals in 10 Champions League games last season, including a hat-trick in the final against Lyon — but voters rewarded Putellas's all-round influence on a quadruple-winning side.

Paris Saint-Germain won Men's Club of the Year for a second straight year after a second straight UEFA Champions League title in 2025-26, along with Ligue 1, the Trophée des Champions, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. Mexico and Pachuca forward Charlyn Corral was Women's Striker of the Year, with Kane winning the men's striker award.

Why It Matters

Kane's win matters beyond one trophy because it resets two long-running narratives at once. For English football, it ends a 25-year absence from the top of the Ballon d'Or ballot and gives the national team's captain an individual honour to match his goalscoring records. For Bayern Munich, it confirms that the club's decision to build around Kane after his 2023 move has delivered not just domestic titles but the game's most visible individual prize.

Putellas's third win matters just as much for the women's game. Barcelona players have now won six of the eight women's Ballon d'Or editions awarded between 2018 and 2026, with Putellas and Bonmatí sharing three each. That dominance, built on sustained Champions League and domestic success, has made Barcelona the defining club of the women's award's short history and Spain the defining nation of its present.

More broadly, Monday's ceremony showed how the Ballon d'Or itself is changing. Staged for the first time in the United Kingdom, delayed by London traffic and briefly leaked online, it felt less like a closed Parisian ritual and more like a global television event — one in which a 33-year-old striker who once went on loan to Leyton Orient could stand on a London stage and tell young players that anything is possible.

What Happens Next

For Kane, the immediate focus returns to club and country. Bayern's season continues with the Bundesliga and Champions League campaigns that will shape next year's ballot, while England's preparations build toward the next major tournament cycle. The question now is whether a Ballon d'Or winner at 33 can sustain the goalscoring pace that won him the prize — and whether team honours, including a first Champions League title, will follow.

For Putellas, the next chapter begins in earnest with the London City Lionesses, where she will be expected to lift a new club just as she lifted Barcelona. The 2027 Women's World Cup will also enter the voting picture for next year's prize, alongside everything that happens between summer 2026 and spring 2027.

For Mbappé and Yamal, Monday was a reminder of how close the contest now is. Mbappé, second again, remains the most likely heir to the men's prize, while Yamal, third at still a teenager and already a three-time young-player winner, has time on his side. Their rivalry — and Kane's defence of his crown — will define the next Ballon d'Or race.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Ballon d'Or?

Harry Kane won the men's 2026 Ballon d'Or and Alexia Putellas won the women's Ballon d'Or Féminin, both at a ceremony in London on October 26, 2026.

Why is Kane's win historic for England?

Kane is the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001, ending a 25-year wait for an English winner.

How many goals did Kane score last season?

Kane scored 73 goals for club and country last season, finishing as Europe's top scorer, and added eight assists. He also scored six goals at the World Cup as England finished third.

How many women's Ballon d'Or awards has Putellas won?

Putellas has won three women's Ballon d'Or awards, in 2021, 2022 and 2026, level with Aitana Bonmatí as the most successful winner in the award's history.

Who finished second and third in the men's voting?

Kylian Mbappé finished second and Lamine Yamal finished third, with Yamal also winning the young-player award for a third straight year.

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