The key facts

  • Kane is the favourite for the 2026 Ballon d'Or; the ceremony will take place in London
  • 73 goals for club and country last season, 156 goals in 158 matches for Bayern
  • Main rival — Lamine Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain and La Liga

A decades-long wait

As Deutsche Welle reports, the Ballon d'Or will probably return to Munich on Monday for the first time since 1981, when Karl-Heinz Rummenigge received the award — to many current Bayern fans he is known primarily as the club's CEO. The last Bundesliga player to win the prize was Borussia Dortmund's Matthias Sammer in 1996. The outlet names 33-year-old Harry Kane, born 12 years after Rummenigge's victory, as the main favourite. This year's ceremony will be held, as a one-off, in London, the Englishman's home city. 'For me it's a special moment — I'm from London and lived there for a long time. Maybe it's a good sign,' Kane told the club magazine Säbener51, adding that the Ballon d'Or would be a huge success for him.

Rivals and statistics

DW names Lamine Yamal of Barcelona as Kane's main rival: at 16 he won the Euros, and over the 2025/26 season, on which the award is judged, he became a world champion with Spain and a La Liga winner. Kane's arguments: 73 goals for club and country last season and 156 goals in 158 matches for Bayern — the most expensive transfer in Bundesliga history moved from Tottenham in 2023. In the Premier League he has 213 goals in 320 games. The outlet also notes critics who speak of 'stat padding' in qualifiers and in the Bundesliga, which has fewer elite teams than England.

Assessments from coaches and teammates

Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany noted that in England Kane was seen primarily as a goalscorer, while in Munich other qualities have come to light — including his football intelligence, which, according to the coach, 'was perhaps underrated.' 'He's like a good wine that gets better with age,' Kompany said. Serge Gnabry highlighted the striker's professionalism and leadership ahead of the Champions League match against Arsenal (2:2), in which Kane converted a penalty and provided the assist for Alphonso Davies's goal. Kane himself said after the game: 'That was one of my best passes. I knew Fonzi would make the run thanks to his speed. Right now it seems I'm helping the team more with assists than with goals.' Kane's first coach, Dave Bricknell from amateur side Ridgeway Rovers, called his mentality his main strength, while England manager Thomas Tuchel described him as 'the full package' and a very hard-working forward.

Path and trophies

Kane's career was not straightforward: after his first professional contract with Tottenham in July 2010, he went on loan spells to lower-league clubs in 2011–2013 without much success. Former Tottenham teammate Jermain Defoe told DW in 2023 that the loans toughened Kane and that his talent was evident from the very start. In England Kane never won a trophy, but with Bayern he has already taken two Bundesliga titles and the DFB-Pokal. With the England team international success has so far eluded him: at the 2026 World Cup the side went out in the semi-finals. By Euro 2028 in the UK and Ireland Kane will be 35, and his contract with Bayern runs until the following year.

Significance for the Bundesliga

According to DW, a Kane victory would be a reputational success for the Bundesliga, which in recent years has fallen behind the Premier League and La Liga commercially and sporting-wise. An award won outside England and Spain would make the achievement even weightier: apart from Ousmane Dembélé, who won last year after PSG's Champions League triumph, and multiple winner Lionel Messi, the last player outside those two leagues to receive the Ballon d'Or was Kaká of Milan in 2007.