Harry Kane wins first Ballon d’Or, beating Mbappé and Yamal

Harry Kane won the 70th Ballon d'Or on Monday, Oct. 26, at the London Palladium. The Bayern Munich striker became the first Englishman to take the men's award since Michael Owen in 2001, The Athletic reported. He finished ahead of Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, according to Transfermarkt. The award caps a 2025-26 season in which the 33-year-old scored 61 goals in all competitions for Bayern, 36 of them in the Bundesliga, Yahoo Sports reported.transfermarkt.com+2

The ceremony was held in London to mark 70 years since Stanley Matthews became the prize's first winner, USA Today noted. It started late because of traffic and rain in the city, El Colombiano reported. Earlier in the afternoon, France Football had briefly posted articles on the official Ballon d'Or website naming Kane, Yamal and Mbappé each as the winner, then deleted them, The Athletic said.nytimes.com+2

The full top 10

Manchester City's Rodri came fourth, with Lionel Messi fifth and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sixth. Last year's winner, Ousmane Dembélé, placed seventh, followed by Erling Haaland and Bayern's Michael Olise, ABC reported, and Napoli Magazine listed the same order. England's Declan Rice finished 15th, Transfermarkt reported.napolimagazine.com+2

Yamal came up short again after finishing second to Dembélé last year. He did win the Kopa Trophy for the best player under 21 for the third year in a row, and Kane also took the Striker of the Year award, Yahoo Sports reported. On the women's side, Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d'Or Féminin for a record-equalling third time, according to The Athletic.sports.yahoo.com+1

Fabián Ruiz in Paris

Paris Saint-Germain's Fabián Ruiz finished 10th, ABC reported. In the year covered by the vote, he won six titles, including the Champions League and the World Cup with Spain. He was not at the ceremony. PSG's home match against Lyon was moved from Oct. 25 to Monday night after the Paris police prefecture banned the original date because of planned protests, AS reported. Ruiz was in PSG's starting lineup, El Pespunte reported. PSG won the match 2-0, Napoli Magazine said.abc.es+3

Dembélé was injured and could not play against Lyon, so he went to London, AS noted. There he collected PSG's men's Club of the Year award, Napoli Magazine reported.en.as.com+1