Can Kane buck history and win Ballon d'Or? — SkimNews
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- Harry Kane scored 73 goals for club and country in 2025-26 — 61 for Bayern Munich and 12 for England — while Bayern won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal and England finished third at the World Cup.
- Only Lionel Messi (82 in 2011-12) has outscored Kane in a single season among players from Europe's top five leagues; Kane's tally exceeds Gerd Muller's 72 (1972-73), Cristiano Ronaldo's 66, and Erling Haaland's 64.
- Of the previous 19 Ballon d'Or winners, only four failed to lift the Champions League, World Cup, European Championship or Copa America in their winning year, and Kane cannot claim Champions League glory after Bayern's semi-final exit to Paris St-Germain.
- Rodri presents the strongest rival case, having won the World Cup Golden Ball as Spain secured a second world title, while Lamine Yamal added a World Cup winner's medal to Barcelona's La Liga triumph.
- Kylian Mbappe finished as the World Cup's top scorer with 10 goals and also claimed the Champions League Golden Boot and La Liga scoring title, despite France falling short of the final and Real Madrid ending without a major honour.
- A Kane victory would make him only the fifth Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or — after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen — and the first Bundesliga-based winner since Matthias Sammer in 1996.
Why it matters: The vote will settle a recurring tension in Ballon d'Or history: whether voters reward the single most prolific individual season or the trophy-laden narrative. With only four of the last 19 winners lacking a major trophy that year, and Kane unable to claim Champions League glory after Bayern's semi-final loss to PSG, the 176-strong international journalist jury must decide if 73 goals in 2025-26 is enough to break the pattern.
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