Harry Kane's 2026 Ballon d'Or win: Team success, Bundesliga bias, and World Cup impact

theguardian.com —

Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or in London, beating Kylian Mbappé for the top men's honor. The award ceremony, described as a three-hour slog, highlighted how team success heavily influenced voters' decisions this year. Kane's 64 goals in 56 club matches for Bayern Munich, combined with England's World Cup third-place finish, secured the prize. Arsenal's Champions League finalists and PSG's club-of-the-year winners saw no players rank higher than sixth, while Manchester City's struggles sank Rodri and Erling Haaland's candidacies. Kane's win ended a 30-year Bundesliga drought, with voters seemingly overcoming the "Bundesliga tax" stigma. The award continues a trend of not going to reigning World Cup winners, as Spain's Lamine Yamal and Rodri finished below the frontrunners despite their tournament triumph.


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Harry Kane's 2026 Ballon d'Or win: Team success, Bundesliga bias, and World Cup impact | News Minimalist