Harry Kane wins the Ballon d'Or, Putellas for the third time

Harry Kane has won the 2026 Ballon d’Or. The English forward of Bayern Munich claims the award for the first time, succeeding Ousmane Dembélé, winner of the previous edition, in the roll of honour. The award ceremony took place in London, where Spain and Barcelona were among the major protagonists of the evening, a sign of a season in which Spanish football carried significant weight in the individual honours awarded.

Among the women, the award went to Alexia Putellas, who wins the women’s Ballon d’Or for the third time. The repeat success places the Spanish player among the most decorated figures in the recent history of the award, in an evening that also saw Spanish football as a whole assert itself strongly, with Barcelona present in several categories of the ceremony.

For Kane, it is an achievement that fits into an uncommon tradition for English footballers: he is the fifth player from his country to win the Ballon d’Or, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen. A list spanning different decades of English football history that Kane now extends with his own name, in a personal season that the award crowns at the individual level.

The London ceremony thus closes a season of awards that saw the men’s and women’s honours converge on a single stage, with Kane and Putellas representing two different but equally significant paths in the international football landscape of the year just ended. The handover from Dembélé also marks a change in the men’s roll of honour after just one year of the Frenchman’s reign.

The news currently comes from a single source (Sky TG24, citing France Football and the Ballon d’Or ceremony); no independent confirmation is currently available.