England captain Harry Kane and Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas have been crowned the world’s best players at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in London. Kane is the first English player to win the men’s award since Michael Owen in 2001, and Putellas has won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for a record-equalling third time.
Kane, 33, is the fifth Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or, after Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966), Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) and Owen. Scotland’s Denis Law (1964) and Northern Ireland’s George Best (1968) are the only other winners from the United Kingdom. Kane is also the first Bayern Munich player to win since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal was third.
Putellas, 32, collected the most votes from an international panel of journalists across FIFA’s top 50 ranked countries. Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor finished second and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw third. Putellas draws level with Spain teammate and former Barcelona colleague Aitana Bonmati, who won in 2023, 2024 and 2025 after Putellas’ wins in 2021 and 2022. The pair have won the past six awards, with Norway’s Ada Hegerberg (2018) and Megan Rapinoe of the United States (2019) the only non-Spanish winners.
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches last season, the most by a Bayern player in a single campaign. Only one player at a club in Europe’s top five leagues has ever scored more in a season. Including England matches, he scored 73 goals and provided eight assists in 65 games. He won the award despite missing out on football’s biggest prizes, after losing in the semi-finals of both the World Cup and the Champions League.
Putellas captained Barcelona to the Champions League title as part of a quadruple in 2025-26, before joining Women’s Super League (WSL) side London City Lionesses in July. Her win caps a return to the top of world football after a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury in 2022.
‘I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now,’ Kane told DAZN. ‘I had to bide my time and work hard. A lot of times it was me against my own mind, and I had to come through it. I had to show self-belief and determination.’
‘Don’t listen if someone tells you that you can’t do it. Believe in yourself,’ Putellas said.
England Manager Thomas Tuchel said he was ‘delighted’ by Kane’s win and hailed it as a ‘huge honour’, while Prince William described the former Tottenham Hotspur player as a ‘brilliant captain’ and ‘remarkable player’. The Wembley arches were lit up in gold on Monday night to mark the win.