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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Kane scored six times in the knockout stages, matching the benchmark set by Ronaldo in 2012 and 2013.

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.