Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d'Or, ending England's 25-year wait

theguardian.com —

Harry Kane won the 2026 men's Ballon d'Or, becoming the first Englishman to claim the award in 25 years, at a ceremony in London. Alexia Putellas of London City Lionesses won the women's award for the third time. Kane beat co-favourites Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé, earning the prize for a year that included the European Golden Boot, a Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, and captaining England to a World Cup semi-final. He scored 89 goals for club and country since August 2025. The award caps a 16-year career that began with loan spells at Leyton Orient and Millwall. At 33, Kane recently equalled England's caps record and has his sights set on a home European Championship in two years.


With a significance score of 2.1, this news ranks in the top 22% of today's 32433 analyzed articles.

Get summaries of news with significance over 5.5 (usually ~10 stories per week). Read by 10,000+ subscribers: