Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or after a remarkable season defined by goals, trophies and performances for England. The Bayern Munich striker claimed football’s most prestigious individual award after a prolific campaign for club and country.
The 33-year-old scored 73 goals in 65 appearances during the 2025-26 season, beating Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, who finished runner-up, and Lamine Yamal, who came third, to claim the award. Rodri, the 2024 winner, finished fourth, followed by Argentine great Lionel Messi.
Historic Ballon d’Or win
Kane, who also won the Men’s Striker of the Year award, ended England’s 25-year wait for a Ballon d’Or winner. He became the fifth Englishman to claim the honour, following Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen.
Deep Dive
How many goals did Harry Kane score in the season he won the 2026 Ballon d’Or?
Why was Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or win historic for England and Bayern Munich?
What major trophies does Harry Kane still want to win?
He also became the first Bayern Munich player to win the Ballon d’Or since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who claimed the award in consecutive years in 1980 and 1981.
Record-breaking campaign in numbers
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich during the 2025-26 season, the highest tally by a player at a club in Europe’s top five leagues. Mbappe finished second with 42 goals. Even excluding Kane’s 17 penalty goals, his total remained ahead of every other player in Europe’s top five leagues. The England captain also scored five hat-tricks across all competitions for Bayern, more than any other player at a club in Europe’s top five leagues.
Only two other players have scored at least 61 goals in a season for a club in Europe’s top five leagues in the 21st century: Cristiano Ronaldo, who netted 61 in 2014-15, and Lionel Messi, who scored 73 in 2011-12.
{{/usCountry}}Only two other players have scored at least 61 goals in a season for a club in Europe’s top five leagues in the 21st century: Cristiano Ronaldo, who netted 61 in 2014-15, and Lionel Messi, who scored 73 in 2011-12.
{{/usCountry}}Kane’s 61 goals represented his best-ever return at club level and the second-highest single-season tally by a Bayern player since the club was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1965. Only Gerd Muller, with 66 goals in 1972-73, has scored more.
Bundesliga dominance
Kane scored 36 goals in the Bundesliga, matching his tally from his debut season in Germany in 2023-24. He became the second player to win the league’s Golden Boot in three consecutive seasons, after Robert Lewandowski.
He also reached 100 Bundesliga goals in just 98 appearances, becoming the fastest player to reach the milestone and surpassing the previous benchmark of 129 matches.
German Cup records
Kane scored 10 goals in six DFB-Pokal appearances, the highest tally by a player in a single edition of the competition in 49 years.
Since the Bundesliga began in 1963, only two players had previously scored at least 10 goals in a single German Cup campaign: Dieter Muller, who scored 14 in 1976-77, and Gerd, who netted 11 in the same season.
Kane also scored a hat-trick in the German Cup final against VfB Stuttgart. He became only the fourth player to score three times in a final, after Uwe Seeler in 1963, Roland Wohlfarth in 1986 and Lewandowski in 2012. Kane was also the first to score all three goals in the opening half, completing what is known in German football as a 'lupenreiner hat-trick'.
Champions League numbers
Kane scored 14 goals in 13 Champions League appearances, finishing second in the competition’s scoring chart behind Mbappé. In Bayern’s history, only Lewandowski has scored more in a single Champions League campaign, with 15 goals in 2019-20.
Kane scored six times in the knockout stages, matching the benchmark set by Ronaldo in 2012 and 2013.
Records in England colours
Kane scored 12 goals for England during the Ballon d’Or assessment period, including six at the 2026 World Cup, where England finished third after losing to Argentina in the semifinals.
During the tournament, he surpassed Gary Lineker to become England’s leading scorer in World Cup history. He also became the first England men’s player to score at five different major international tournaments.
Kane finished the season with 73 goals in 65 appearances for club and country. Messi remains the only player to have scored more in a single season, having netted 82 times in 2011-12.