BBC Sport: Harry Kane Wins the Ballon d'Or as Alexia Putellas Takes the Women's Award

Football's most famous individual prize has a new name on it. Harry Kane won the men's Ballon d'Or at a ceremony at the London Palladium on Monday, 26 October, while Spain's Alexia Putellas collected the Ballon d'Or Féminin for a third time.

For Kane it was a long awaited honor. BBC Sport reported that he is the first English player to win since Michael Owen in 2001, and only the fifth Englishman ever, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen.

A Record Season for Kane

The 33 year old Bayern Munich striker won on the strength of a season of remarkable scoring. According to BBC Sport, Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches in 2025 to 2026, the most any Bayern player has managed in one campaign.

He was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals, added 14 in the Champions League and scored a hat trick in the German Cup final. Including his 12 goals for England, his total reached 73 goals in 65 matches. BBC Sport noted that only Lionel Messi, with 82 in 2011 to 2012, has scored more in a season among players from Europe's top leagues.

Kane is also the first Bayern player to win the award since Karl Heinz Rummenigge in 1981. Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé finished second and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal was third.

Winning Without the Biggest Trophies

What makes Kane's win unusual is what he did not lift. His Bayern side won the German league and cup double, but lost in the Champions League semi finals, and England went out in the World Cup semi finals.

BBC Sport reported that this is only the fifth time in 20 years that the Ballon d'Or has gone to a player who did not win the World Cup, the Champions League or a continental title in that cycle. Kane joins Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on that short list.

"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." England manager Thomas Tuchel called the award a "huge honour," and the Wembley arch was lit gold on Monday night.

Putellas Completes a Comeback

Putellas, 32, joins her Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí on three Ballon d'Or Féminin titles, BBC Sport reported. She won in 2021 and 2022 before a serious knee injury on the eve of Euro 2022 kept her out for a long spell.

Last season she captained Barcelona to a domestic and European quadruple, scoring 21 goals with 13 assists, before joining London City Lionesses of the Women's Super League in July. Barcelona's Ewa Pajor finished second in the voting and Manchester City's Khadija Shaw third. The award keeps the women's prize in Spanish hands for a sixth year running.

"Don't listen if someone tells you, you can't do it. Believe in yourself," Putellas said on stage.

What It Means Going Forward

Kane's form suggests he could contend again. BBC Sport reported he has 16 goals in 16 games for club and country this season, and Bayern are unbeaten in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. Yamal, who has now finished second and third in successive years, and Mbappé will also be in the race.

For Putellas, the win confirms that her move to England has not slowed her down. For English football, it ends a 25 year wait that stretched across a generation of strikers, and it comes from a player whose previous best finish in the Ballon d'Or voting was 10th. Kane said that much of his career had been a contest with his own doubts, and that working through them kept him improving even after he reached the top. Legend Magazine will follow both winners as their seasons continue.