Harry Kane, the captain of England, won the 2026 Ballon d’Or by a very small margin over France's Kylian Mbappé. The difference was reportedly less than the 41 points that separated Rodri and Vinicius Junior in 2024.
The organisers shared this news on the Ballon d’Or website after the ceremony in London on Monday. Kane was named the winner of the men’s award, beating out Mbappé and Barcelona's young talent, Lamine Yamal.
Vincent Garcia, the editor-in-chief of France Football, confirmed that the gap between Kane and Mbappé is even smaller than the 41 points from the previous year.
“Out of a total of several thousand points, the victory was decided by a hair's breadth,” the organisers stated.
The exact voting numbers for the 2026 award have not been made public yet.
Kane’s win is significant as it is the first time an English player has claimed the men’s Ballon d’Or in 25 years. The last Englishman to win was Michael Owen in 2001.
The striker from Bayern Munich had a fantastic 2025/26 season, scoring 73 goals for both his club and country, according to UEFA.
The Ballon d’Or is decided by a group of journalists from around the world. Each voter picks 10 players and gives points from 15 down to one.
Voters look at players’ individual performances, their teams’ achievements, titles won, and their overall sportsmanship.
The results from 2026 are among many closely contested awards in the history of the Ballon d’Or.
In 2019, Lionel Messi won by just seven points over Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, finishing with 686 points to van Dijk’s 679.
In 2024, Rodri from Manchester City beat Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid by 41 points, recording 1,170 points compared to Vinicius’ 1,129.
The Ballon d’Or website also mentioned some of the closest finishes in its history. In 1966, England’s Bobby Charlton beat Portugal’s Eusébio by just one point. In 1996, Matthias Sammer narrowly defeated Brazilian star Ronaldo by the same margin.
In contrast, Ousmane Dembélé won the 2025 award with a much larger lead, scoring 1,380 points, which was 321 points ahead of Yamal.
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