England striker Harry Kane won the men's 2026 Ballon d'Or and Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the women's award for a third time at the ceremony at the London Palladium.
Harry Kane and Alexia Putellas won the 2026 Ballon d'Or awards at a ceremony in London on Monday, October 26, football's most prestigious individual honours.
Kane, the England captain and Bayern Munich striker, won the men's award ahead of France forward Kylian Mbappe, with Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal third. Putellas, the Spain midfielder, won the women's award for the third time, after victories in 2021 and 2022, ahead of Poland striker Ewa Pajor and Jamaica striker Khadija Shaw. The ceremony, held at the London Palladium Theatre, marked the 70th anniversary of an award presented annually since 1956 and co-organised by France Football and UEFA since 2024. Kane also won the men's striker of the year prize, Yamal and Vicky Lopez won the young talent awards, and Bukayo Saka received the Socrates Award for solidarity action.
Kane's case rested on volume and trophies. He scored 73 goals with eight assists in 65 matches across the August-to-July assessment period, including 36 goals in 31 Bundesliga matches as Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the German Super Cup, and six goals with an assist as England finished third at the 2026 World Cup. He is the first Englishman to win the men's award since Michael Owen in 2001. Putellas was recognised after a treble-winning season with Barcelona, with the women's club of the year award also going to Barcelona and the men's club award to Paris Saint-Germain.
UEFA's published winners list confirms the headline awards and the supporting prizes, and the final rankings placing Mbappe second and Yamal third are consistent across the organisers' list and independent coverage. The vote was described as one of the closest in the award's history, with public criticism from some former players arguing for Mbappe or Yamal, but the organisers' ranking itself is not in dispute.
For Kane, the award ends a long wait for individual recognition at the very top of the game; for Putellas, a third Ballon d'Or puts her alongside the most decorated players in the women's award's history. Both now carry the honour into a season where club form, rather than last season's numbers, will decide whether the choices age well.