England Captain Harry Kane Clinches Ballon D’Or; Spain’s Alexia Putellas Is 3rd Time Winner For Women’s
Harry Kane won football’s highest individual honour on Monday, with the Bayern Munich and England striker winning the Ballon d’Or after a record-breaking season in which he netted 61 goals in 51 games for the German club across all competitions in which they completed a domestic league and cup double.
Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for the third time.
ENGLAND CAPTAIN HARRY KANE WINS BALLON D’OR
Kane is the first Englishman to win the prestigious award in 25 years, after Michael Owen won it in 2001.
“Wow, wow, wow!” Kane said after taking the stage. “I am almost speechless. Being here in London has made it extra special. Made it a good omen for me tonight. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I can imagine it was tough this year.
“Some world-class players in the room tonight. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees tonight and impressive showing determination and hard work can really achieve.”
The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the fifth Englishman to win in total, with Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) the others.
Denis Law of Scotland (1964) and Northern Ireland’s George Best (1968) are the other winners from the United Kingdom.
Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal completed the top three.
“Not many people would have thought it, and maybe even I wouldn’t have thought I’d be this far,” Kane told Dazn.
“I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now.
“I had to bide my time and work hard, a lot of times it was me against my own mind and I had to come through it, I had to show self-belief, determination.
“I think that grounded me even when I did make it at the highest level to keep improving and keep getting better.”
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he was “delighted” to see Kane win the award as he hailed the forward’s success as a “huge honour”.
Prince William, meanwhile, said the former Tottenham Hotspur player was a “brilliant captain” and “remarkable player”.
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches last season, the most a Bayern player has ever struck in one campaign.
Including England matches, it was 73 goals – plus eight assists – in 65 matches.
Only one player at a club in Europe’s top five leagues has ever scored more goals in a season.
But he wins it despite not lifting either of football’s biggest prizes last season, having lost in both the World Cup and Champions League semi-finals.
Remarkably the Three Lions captain becomes the first Bayern player to win the Ballon d’Or since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.
To celebrate Kane’s success, the Wembley arches were lit up in gold on Monday night./BBC
ALEXIA PUTELLAS WINS THE BALLON D’OR FEMININ
Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas has won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for a record-equalling third time, keeping the prize in Spanish hands for a sixth consecutive year.
Putellas, 32, captained Barcelona to Champions League glory as part of a quadruple in 2025-26, before joining Women’s Super League (WSL) side London City Lionesses in July.
She joins Spain team-mate Aitana Bonmati on three Ballon d’Or Feminin crowns – her former Barcelona colleague won the award in 2023, 2024 and 2025 after Putellas did so in 2021 and 2022.
The past six Ballons d’Or have been won by the Spanish pair, with Norway’s Ada Hegerberg (2018) and Megan Rapinoe of the United States (2019) the only non-Spaniards to claim the prize.
Putellas’ latest victory caps a remarkable return to the pinnacle of world football after suffering a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2022.
“All the boys and girls around the world – if you love football and if you want to play football, play football. It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or if you’re a girl,” Putellas said.
“Doesn’t matter where you come from. Don’t listen if someone tells you, you can’t do it. Believe in yourself.”
She collected the most votes from an international panel of journalists across Fifa’s top-50 ranked countries, with Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor coming second and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw third.
