Harry Kane was named the best male footballer in the world at the London Palladium on Monday night, ending a 25-year wait for an English winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Michael Owen was the last Englishman to take the prize, in 2001. The 33-year-old Bayern Munich and England captain beat Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid into second place, with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal third, BBC Sport reported.
Sky Sports said Kane received the trophy from Brazil’s two-time winner Ronaldo. Kane also collected the Best Striker award on the night.
Speaking afterwards, Kane told the Bundesliga website he was “almost speechless”. He added that being in London had made the night “extra special”.
The numbers behind the win
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern last season, more than any player has managed for the club in a single campaign. Adding his England appearances takes him to 73 goals and eight assists in 65 matches.
Only Lionel Messi has scored more in a season among players from Europe’s leading leagues. He hit 82 for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12.
Kane’s 61 club goals were the most by any player since Cristiano Ronaldo also reached 61 for Real Madrid 11 years ago. He finished 19 clear of the next-best scorer in Europe’s top five leagues.
He scored 36 Bundesliga goals, 17 more than his nearest rival. He added 14 in the Champions League and 10 in the German Cup, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final win over Stuttgart.
For England he scored 12 times, six of them at the World Cup, where the team finished third. That is their best finish since 1966, according to the Bundesliga website.
He wins without a Champions League or World Cup medal. Bayern and England both went out in the semi-finals. Kane did win the German league and cup double.
The BBC noted it is only the fifth time in 20 years that the prize has gone to someone without a World Cup, Champions League, European Championship or Copa America title. Kane joins Messi, who did it three times, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is the fifth Englishman to win, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen. He is also the first Bundesliga player to take the award since Matthias Sammer in 1996.
What the papers said
The front pages followed the news closely. A Yahoo Sports round-up said the Daily Telegraph led with “Kane’s crowning glory”. L’Equipe paired him with women’s winner Alexia Putellas under the headline “King Kane & Queen Putellas”.
Spanish papers focused on how the vote was decided. Goal reported that Marca and AS compared the result with Messi’s win in 2010, when he beat the World Cup-winning pair of Andres Iniesta and Xavi. El Pais wrote that goals outweighed titles.
Not everyone in Spain agreed. Jose Felix Diaz, editor-in-chief of AS and Spain’s only voter, said on Cadena SER radio that his top three were the same but in a different order. Kane was “a wonderful player”, Goal quoted him as saying, though he had expected Mbappe or Yamal to win.
Back in England, former striker Alan Shearer had told BBC Sport before the ceremony that Kane should win, citing his “sensational” numbers for club and country. The Wembley arches were lit gold on Monday night to mark the result.
Attention now turns to whether Kane can retain the award. He has 10 goals in his first 12 Bayern games this season, plus six in four Nations League matches for England. No player other than Messi or Ronaldo has won it in consecutive years since Marco van Basten in 1988 and 1989.
Sources: Sky Sports, Bundesliga, Yahoo Sports, Goal, Goal, BBC Sport
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
