Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October. Kylian Mbappé was second and Lamine Yamal third. It was the first time the ceremony had been held outside France or Switzerland, and the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001. Alexia Putellas won the women's award for the third time.
The top five at a glance
- 1. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, England). 61 goals for Bayern and 73 in all for club and country in 2025–26, a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double, and third place at the World Cup.
- 2. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid, France). La Liga top scorer again, joint Champions League top scorer, and a second World Cup Golden Boot.
- 3. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona, Spain). La Liga Player of the Season and a World Cup winner at 18. He also won a record third Kopa Trophy on the night.
- 4. Rodri (Manchester City, Spain). Golden Ball at the World Cup Spain won. He has since moved to Barcelona.
- 5. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami, Argentina). Silver Ball at the World Cup after reaching a second straight final.
Full 2026 Ballon d'Or ranking, 1 to 30
Clubs are where each player was during the eligible season (3 August 2025 to 19 July 2026). Where a player has moved since, the new club is in brackets.
| # | Player | Country | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harry Kane | England | Bayern Munich |
| 2 | Kylian Mbappé | France | Real Madrid |
| 3 | Lamine Yamal | Spain | Barcelona |
| 4 | Rodri | Spain | Manchester City (now Barcelona) |
| 5 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | Inter Miami |
| 6 | Khvicha Kvaratskhelia | Georgia | PSG |
| 7 | Ousmane Dembélé | France | PSG |
| 8 | Erling Haaland | Norway | Manchester City |
| 9 | Michael Olise | France | Bayern Munich |
| 10 | Fabián Ruiz | Spain | PSG |
| 11 | Jude Bellingham | England | Real Madrid |
| 12 | Pau Cubarsí | Spain | Barcelona |
| 13 | Achraf Hakimi | Morocco | PSG |
| 14 | Vitinha | Portugal | PSG |
| 15 | Declan Rice | England | Arsenal |
| 16 | Ferran Torres | Spain | Barcelona (now PSG) |
| 17 | Vinícius Júnior | Brazil | Real Madrid |
| 18 | Marc Cucurella | Spain | Chelsea (now Real Madrid) |
| 19 | João Neves | Portugal | PSG |
| 20 | Willian Pacho | Ecuador | PSG |
| 21 | Gabriel Magalhães | Brazil | Arsenal |
| 22 | Lautaro Martínez | Argentina | Inter |
| 23 | Nuno Mendes | Portugal | PSG |
| 24 | Luis Díaz | Colombia | Bayern Munich |
| 25 | Marquinhos | Brazil | PSG |
| 26 | Dayot Upamecano | France | Bayern Munich |
| 27 | Bruno Fernandes | Portugal | Manchester United |
| 28 | Julián Quiñones | Mexico | Al-Qadsiah |
| 29= | Sadio Mané | Senegal | Al-Nassr |
| 29= | William Saliba | France | Arsenal |
Every other award on the night
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Women's Ballon d'Or | Alexia Putellas (Barcelona), her third |
| Kopa Trophy (best young player) | Lamine Yamal, his third in a row |
| Women's Kopa Trophy | Vicky López (Barcelona) |
| Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper) | Unai Simón (Athletic Club, Spain) |
| Women's Yashin Trophy | Cata Coll (Barcelona) |
| Gerd Müller Trophy (top scorer) | Harry Kane, 73 goals, his second |
| Women's Gerd Müller Trophy | Charlyn Corral, 49 goals |
| Johan Cruyff Trophy (coach) | Luis de la Fuente (Spain) |
| Women's coach of the year | Pere Romeu (Barcelona) |
| Club of the Year | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Women's Club of the Year | Barcelona |
| Sócrates Award | Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) |
Five things the ranking tells you
- PSG had the most players in the 30, nine from their 2025–26 squad plus Ferran Torres, who joined after the season. They also won Club of the Year after a second straight Champions League.
- Spain's World Cup is everywhere: six Spanish players, plus de la Fuente as coach of the year and Unai Simón as best goalkeeper after a record seven clean sheets.
- Bayern had four in the 30: Kane, Olise, Luis Díaz and Upamecano. Kane is the first Bayern player to win since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.
- England had three players in the top 15 (Kane, Bellingham and Rice), and Saka was honoured separately with the Sócrates Award.
- Messi finished fifth at 39, in the same month he retired from international football. He was the highest-placed player from a club outside Europe.
Why Kane won
The vote covered the 2025–26 season, and Kane's was the most productive in Europe. He scored 36 Bundesliga goals in 31 games, equalling his own league record from 2023–24, finished joint top scorer in the Champions League, and scored a hat-trick in the DFB-Pokal final as Bayern won the double. His 61 goals for Bayern are a club record for the 21st century.
Then came the World Cup. Kane scored six as England finished third, their best result since 1966. Mbappé had the Golden Boot and Yamal had the winner's medal, but no one else matched Kane across a whole season.
We wrote a full piece on his season and what the win means for England. It is linked at the bottom of this page.
Compare the top players
Our head-to-head pages put the stats side by side, with a verified take on who has the edge:
Player profiles
Play with the winners
Kane, Olise and the rest of the Bundesliga are not in Premier League fantasy, but plenty of the top 30 are, and every one of them is in our quiz. All of these are free and need no download.