The key facts
- Charlyn Corral is the first representative of Mexico with an individual award from the France Football ceremony
- In the 2025/26 season, the 35-year-old forward scored 38 goals in the Mexican championship, including a record 22 in the autumn regular tournament
- Harry Kane won the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career and became the first Englishman since 2001
A historic award for Mexico
Pachuca forward Charlyn Corral has been named the best striker of the 2025/26 season. The award was presented to the 35-year-old athlete at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London. As Life.ru notes, Corral became the first representative of Mexico to receive an individual award at the ceremony of the French magazine France Football.
Record-breaking scoring
The award was based on her season statistics: 38 goals by Corral in the Mexican championship, including the playoffs. In the autumn tournament she scored 22 goals in the regular championship — a new competition record — and in the spring she added 14 goals in the regular phase and two in the knockout matches. The best striker award is given to the footballer with the highest number of goals over the established period, and the winner is determined by statistics from official matches, not by voting.
What this award means against the backdrop of her previous achievements
The prize marks a new level in the career of a footballer who had already dominated at the national level: she has been the top scorer of the Mexican championship four times, the league's best player three times, and ranks second among the most prolific players in the history of the country's women's championship. However, an individual award at the level of the France Football ceremony came to her for the first time — as it has for any Mexican footballer, male or female. At the ceremony, Corral thanked her teammates, called the award the culmination of two decades in professional football, and drew attention to the development of women's football in Mexico.
Kane — the first Englishman in 25 years
At the same ceremony, the forward of Bayern Munich and the England national team Harry Kane won the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career: the 33-year-old striker was named the best footballer of the 2025/26 season. He became the first Englishman to receive the award in 25 years — the last before him was Michael Owen in 2001.
