Harry Kane has ended England’s 25-year await the lads’s Ballon d’Or after profitable the distinguished particular person award at Monday’s ceremony in London.
The Bayern Munich striker grew to become the primary Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001 to be named the world’s best male footballer.
The England captain claimed the honour forward of a powerful area of nominees, together with France’s Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé, Norway’s Erling Haaland, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Spain’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.
The 2026 ceremony, organised by France Football, recognised excellent particular person and workforce performances throughout males’s and ladies’s soccer.
The award represents a significant milestone for Kane, who has established himself amongst Europe’s main forwards by means of his goalscoring consistency and performances for membership and nation.
Meanwhile, Spain and Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas gained the ladies’s Ballon d’Or for the third time, equalling the report set by her former teammate Aitana Bonmatí.
Putellas was rewarded for an excellent 2025-26 marketing campaign in which she captained Barcelona to 4 main trophies: the Spanish Liga F, Copa de la Reina, Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Her achievements additionally included enjoying a key function in Spain’s Nations League triumph.
After receiving the award, Putellas thanked her teammates and acknowledged the standard of the opposite nominees.
“I think anyone here could have fairly won this trophy and be giving this speech here right now,” she stated.
The ceremony additionally celebrated rising abilities, coaches, goalkeepers and golf equipment that distinguished themselves in the course of the season.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal gained the lads’s younger participant award, whereas Vicky López claimed the corresponding ladies’s honour.
Barcelona Femeni and Paris Saint-Germain have been named the ladies’s and males’s golf equipment of the yr, respectively.
Spain’s Pere Romeu and Luis de la Fuente acquired the ladies’s and males’s coach of the yr awards, whereas goalkeepers Cata Coll and Unai Simon gained the corresponding prizes in the ladies’s and males’s classes.
Kane additionally claimed the lads’s high scorer award, with Mexico’s Charlyn Corral receiving the ladies’s equal.
England ahead Bukayo Saka acquired the Socrates Award, which recognises humanitarian work and social initiatives.
The ceremony introduced collectively main figures in world soccer to have fun particular person excellence and achievements throughout the sport.
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