Why Harry Kane checks all the boxes to be crowned Ballon d’Or winner

England's Harry Kane scored 73 goals for club and country last season, in just 65 games. | Photo Credit: AP

For the first time in the 70-year history of the Ballon d’Or, the award ceremony moves away from French shores to come to London, which could coincide with the honour being presented to someone from the British Isles for the first time since 2001.

Harry Kane has had a 2025/26 season that is only comparable to the greatest footballers to ever have played the sport. Kane scored 73 goals for club and country last season, in just 65 games, where a lot of his goals led Bayern Munich and England toward important victories. The only person who has ever scored more goals than the Englishman in a season is Lionel Messi, with 82 goals in 2011/12, widely regarded as one of the best individual football campaigns ever.

In that season, Messi’s goals took Barca to European and Spanish Super Cups, Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup, although he did not win the biggest trophies like La Liga or the UEFA Champions League. However, his individual performances were so outstanding that there was no better candidate than him to win the award, in an era dominated by him and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Over the history of European football, there have only been eight seasons where a player has had more goal contributions than Kane did in 2025/26. Messi tops that chart with four such seasons, including the previously mentioned 2011/12 season where he contributed to 116 goals for Barcelona and Argentina.

Ronaldo had three such seasons where he was incredibly pivotal to his team’s goal threat. So did Uruguay’s Luis Suárez in 2015/16, when he bettered Kane’s goal contributions by one. Across these seasons, both Messi and Ronaldo either won the Ballon d’Or award for their efforts, or came second to each other in a highly competitive era.

Kane’s record in 2025/26 ranks among the best-ever in Europe, joining the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez.

Since Kane’s move to the German club in 2023, after leaving Tottenham Hotspur, he has continued to elevate his game to higher levels, while also adding the team honours which had previously eluded him. Until then, Kane had not won a single trophy for both club and country, despite performing at the highest level and winning the Premier League Golden Boot award three times over his tenure at Spurs.

Since his debut for England in March 2015, his goals have become a key and constant part of the squad, leading to him becoming the all-time leading goalscorer for the nation, with 91 goals. He has played in three World Cups and Euros for his country, to varying results. Kane has now become the fifth-highest goalscorer in World Cup history with 14 goals and his country’s leading scorer in the Euros with seven.

Kane, now a leader at Bayern, helped the team win yet another domestic treble and reach the semifinals of the Champions League, where it was undone by the eventual winner, Paris Saint-Germain. He was also a lynchpin for England, for whom he scored 12 goals in 16 matches, taking them through an almost flawless World Cup qualifying campaign and into a FIFA World Cup where he scored six goals in seven matches, leading his country to a third-place finish.

His footballing ability, IQ, and work ethic have never been questioned before. Neither has his ability to turn them into important performances. His numbers through the campaign are remarkable, considering he also drops deep to influence play in addition to his role as a goal-hanger. During the course of a game, Kane can go from being a target man, who receives the ball in tight spaces and facilitates the speedy wingers around him, to being a playmaker who has the vision to see through and past tight spaces and even a midfield dictator, who demands the ball under pressure and changes the tempo of the game at his will.

Harry Kane taking a goal kick... 😲 #UCL https://t.co/FLR7eCAaph

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 22, 2026

If you look at his performances last season, not only did he score in every round of the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and DFB Pokal, including a hat-trick in the final, but he also provided different options for his team depending on team composition and opponents. His goal-scoring record, coupled with his ability to transform his game, is what makes him unique when compared to his competitors for the Ballon d’Or.

This award is not just given to the player who is the best footballer on the planet, but also, more importantly, given to the player who is the most valuable player to his team and teammates. Kane checks all of these boxes, his performances over the years and especially over the last season, merit recognition.

FILE PHOTO: Harry Kane played a key part in Bayern Munich winning the domestic treble in 2025/26. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Kane will face stiff competition for the Ballon d’Or, with numerous outstanding players jostling for the top prize. Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and teammate Michael Olise all had tremendous years and would be worthy competitors.

Mbappe and Yamal, amongst them, could be Kane’s biggest competitors. Mbappe had 57 goals for Real Madrid and France, including the World Cup, where he scored an incredible 10 goals, making him the all-time leading scorer after just three World Cup editions. Yamal, still 19, has set the footballing world alight in the last few years. He clocked more than 40 goal contributions across the season and contributed to Barcelona winning La Liga and Spain, the World Cup.

Despite the competition Kane faces, his individual achievements last season are unmatched in Europe. His performances mean he could follow Michael Owen (2001) to become just the fifth Englishman to win the award and also become the fourth Ballon d’Or awardee from Bayern Munich.

Having won the Spanish publication Marca’s ‘100 MARCA’ award for best player in October, all signs point to the Bayern and England striker winning the Ballon d’Or in 2026.

Published on Oct 25, 2026

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