Kane ends England’s 25-year wait to win men’s Ballon d’Or award

Harry Kane has become the first English player to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001 after being crowned the world's best player at a ceremony in London.

The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the fifth Englishman to win in total, with Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) the others.

Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal completed the top three.

"I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now.

"I had to bide my time and work hard, a lot of times it was me against my own mind and I had to come through it, I had to show self-belief, determination.

England manager Thomas Tuchel said he was "delighted" to see Kane win the award as he hailed the forward's success as a "huge honour".

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches last season, the most a Bayern player has ever struck in one campaign. Including England matches, it was 73 goals - plus eight assists - in 65 matches.

But he wins it despite not lifting either of football's biggest prizes last season, having lost in both the World Cup and Champions League semi-finals.

To celebrate Kane's success, the Wembley arches were lit up in gold on Monday night.

In terms of trophies, Kane may have 'only' lifted the German double last season.

But in terms of individual output Kane - whose previous best Ballon d'Or finish was 10th - was unmatched last season.

In fact it was the most anyone has recorded since Cristiano Ronaldo also notched 61 for Real Madrid 11 years ago.

He was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals - 17 clear of anyone else. In the Champions League he scored 14 for the beaten semi-finalists.

In the German Cup he scored 10 goals, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart in the final, and he also netted once in the German Super Cup.

No player has ever scored so many goals in a season for Bayern, a club who have had legendary goalscorers like Gerd Muller, Rummenigge and more recently Robert Lewandowski in their ranks.

Only one player in history from Europe's top leagues has scored more in a season, Lionel Messi's 82 for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12.

Next on the list are Muller (72 in 1972-73), Cristiano Ronaldo (66 in both 2011-12 and 2014-15), former Brazil striker Ronaldo (66 in 1996-97), Erling Haaland (64 in 2022-23) and Luis Suarez (64 in 2015-16).

"His numbers for the last 12 to 18 months have been absolutely sensational for Bayern and for England. For that reason, he should get it."

Another ex-Three Lions player Danny Murphy added: "His goalscoring has been relentless, brilliant. He's had one of the best seasons of his career and it'll be a great reward for him if he gets the trophy.

"He's been brilliant at Bayern Munich since he's been there, adapted really well and he's been the best centre forward in the world for the last 12 months."

Since then in four of the seven World Cup years, the Ballon d'Or has been awarded to a world champion - including Messi in 2023 (as the 2022 World Cup was in the winter).

However, that was the first time since 2006 it had happened, with Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric all winning since then despite not winning the World Cup that year.

This is only the fifth time in the past 20 years that the Ballon d'Or has not gone to a player who has won either the World Cup, the Champions League or a European Championship/Copa America - with Kane joining Messi (three times) and Ronaldo.

Last year, winning the Champions League helped PSG and France's Ousmane Dembele to the crown.

Kane may have just won the Ballon d'Or but some are already wondering if he is in a good place to retain it next year.

Throw in six goals in four Nations League games for England and that is a total of 16 in 16 matches so far.

If they were to win a Treble - and Kane keeps scoring at about a goal a game - it would be tough to look past him, especially in a season with no World Cup, European Championship or Copa America.

However, Lamine Yamal will be hoping to make it to the top, having now finished second and third over the past two years.

He has started the season in electric form, with 10 goals and 10 assists in 13 games for Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League.

He would be the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or - aged 20 - if he does lift it next year.

Arsenal, who have never had a Ballon d'Or winner, and Paris St-Germain are two of the other frontrunners to win the Champions League.