Bayern Munich striker and England captain Harry Kane (33) was handed the 2025-2026 Men’s ​Ballon d’Or on ‌Monday at Palladium Theatre, in Kane’s London hometown. The 33-year-old also secured the inaugural Men’s Striker of the Year award. Kane is the first Englishman to win world football’s greatest individual prize since Liverpool’s Michael Owen won it, in 2001, and the first Bayern Munich player to scoop it since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, in 1981.

Kane notably fended off competition from Real Madrid and France striker Kylian Mbappé, who has to contend with second place in the Men’s Ballon d’Or standings, despite scoring 10 World Cup goals. 2026 World Cup winner Lamine Yamal is third. Kane is rewarded after a prolific season, for both and country, ​in which he scored a whopping 73 goals.