Kane Edges Mbappe to Win Ballon d’Or, Say Organisers

Organisers revealed how Harry Kane edged Kylian Mbappe to win the Ballon d’Or during the awards ceremony on October 26, 2026, at the Palladium Theatre in London. Kane, who plays for Bayern Munich, won the prestigious award by the narrowest margin under the current voting system, finishing ahead of Mbappe by just 28 points, France Football announced on October 30, 2026.

According to the magazine’s breakdown of the votes, Kane received 40 first-place votes from the 100 jurors and accumulated a total of 1,055 points. France’s captain Mbappe, who represents Real Madrid, was voted first place 23 times and ended with 1,027 points.

The previous record for the closest margin was 41 points, when Rodri, then of Manchester City, edged Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid in 2024. In the last season, Ousmane Dembele of Paris Saint-Germain racked up a total of 1,380 points, beating Barcelona's Lamine Yamal by 321 points. Despite Yamal winning the World Cup with Spain earlier this summer, he finished third in the voting with 881 points, 174 points behind Kane.

The Ballon d’Or is awarded based on votes from one journalist per country representing the top 100 national teams in the FIFA rankings for men, as well as the top 50 for women.