Ballon d'Or 2026: Can Harry Kane End England's 25 Years of Hurt?
The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony gets under way at the London Palladium this Monday. An English footballer last lifted football's most prestigious individual award 25 years ago — and this time Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane carries the hope of ending that wait.
Michael Owen was the embodiment of English pride when he won the accolade in 2001. Now England captain Kane has the chance to take his nation back to that height.
There was a time when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored 50-plus goals for fun, when a forward's tally looked more like a batsman's cricket score. Kane's goal-scoring exploits in 2025-26 are the closest the world has experienced to that in recent years.
The England captain's 73-goal performance last season was the finest display the world has seen since Argentinian legend Messi's 82-goal tally in 2011-12. 'I've never liked to talk about myself too much,' Kane said in an interview last month. 'The only thing I would say is that last season was incredible, on a personal level and as a team.'
He scored 36 goals last season, making him the Bundesliga's top scorer for the third year running and earning him a second European Golden Shoe, while finishing nine goals clear of Manchester City's Erling Haaland in the continental race.
At 33, an age when most forwards are far beyond their prime, Kane is seemingly peaking. If he wins, he would join Messi, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema among recipients of the last 10 editions who won the Ballon d'Or in their 30s.
Standing in his way, however, are two very talented juniors — Spain's superstar-in-the-making Lamine Yamal, who won the 2026 FIFA World Cup shortly after his 19th birthday, and France's 2018 world champion Kylian Mbappe, who is 27.
When Kane made his Premier League debut for Tottenham Hotspur in 2014, Yamal was still in primary school and Mbappe was in high school — a generational gap that makes this year's race all the more fascinating.
Since Kane moved from London to Munich, the forward has taken German club football by storm, and 2025-26 was no different. He finished the campaign with three trophies: the Bundesliga title, the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) and the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup (German Supercup).
But his failure to make an impact in the Champions League semifinal cost Bayern Europe's most coveted club trophy, and the same was the case at the recent World Cup, where he finished third with England. While World Cup success is not a strict requirement, having a world title on your CV definitely helps.
Recent history suggests winning a title in one of the major tournaments has become almost a prerequisite. Only four of the previous 19 Ballon d'Or winners failed to lift either the Champions League, World Cup, European Championship or Copa America during the year they won the honour. Those exceptions include record eight-time winner Messi and five-time winner Ronaldo.
For now, however, Kane is the bookmakers' leading candidate. As of Tuesday, he held about 65-70 percent market share to become the successor to Ousmane Dembele, the 2025 Ballon d'Or winner. Unlike the outspoken Yamal and Mbappe, who are campaigning hard, Kane has been relatively quiet.
Bayern are speaking up for their leader, having put together a video in which teammates said Kane should win. 'He deserves to win it, 100 percent, without a doubt,' said Colombian Luis Diaz, who is also on the shortlist. If Kane wins, he would become only the fifth English player to do so, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen.
