Who Won the Ballon d'Or 2026? Harry Kane Wins His First, and Alexia Putellas Wins Her Third
England captain Harry Kane was crowned the world's best player in London on Monday — the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or in 25 years — and Spain's Alexia Putellas took the women's prize for a third time.
The search ran all day Monday — who won the Ballon d'Or 2026 — and by evening in London it had an answer. Harry Kane, the England captain and Bayern Munich striker, was crowned the winner of the 70th Ballon d'Or at the London Palladium, Reuters and USA TODAY reported, the first Englishman to win world soccer's top individual prize since Michael Owen in 2001.
The numbers behind the vote were hard to argue with. Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich across all competitions, Reuters reported, as the German club completed a domestic league and cup double. USA TODAY put the league share at 36 goals in 31 Bundesliga matches, with 14 more goals in 13 Champions League matches, and Kane beat France star Kylian Mbappe and Spain star Lamine Yamal to the prize in a vote by journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings.
Kane also carried his country deep into the summer. He scored six goals for England at the 2026 World Cup, where the Three Lions earned a third-place finish, USA TODAY reported — a run Austin's own large World Cup-watching soccer community, fresh off Austin FC's weekend win at Kansas City, followed match by match.
The women's prize stayed in Spanish hands. Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d'Or Feminin for the third time, USA TODAY's live coverage reported, after also winning in 2021 and 2022 — making Spanish players the winners of the women's award in six consecutive years. Kane, 33, had finished 11th in last year's voting, when Ousmane Dembele won; this year, in his hometown, the wait ended.
