Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or case is too strong to ignore

Harry Kane’s claim to the Ballon d’Or rests on a season few players in the modern era can match: 73 goals for Bayern Munich and England in 65 appearances.

If that is not enough for the panel of “experts” announcing the winner at the theatre on Monday night, the award will look more like a circus than a serious measure of footballing excellence. Kane would become the first Englishman to win it since Michael Owen in 2001.

Only Lionel Messi has scored more in a season since 2000, with 82 goals in 2011/12. Cristiano Ronaldo’s best total was 69, a mark Kane surpassed during the World Cup at the age of 32, despite regularly dropping so deep that defenders could scarcely tell whether he was operating as a striker at all.

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern, including 36 in the Bundesliga, 14 in the Champions League, 10 in the DFB Cup and one in the Supercup. His rate of a goal every 66 minutes helped him win the Torjagerkanone for a third successive season and a second European Golden Shoe, finishing nine goals ahead of Erling Haaland.

The team-trophy argument against Kane has also lost much of its force. He began his Bayern career with a 3-0 Supercup defeat by RB Leipzig in 2023, but last season brought the Bundesliga, the Supercup and Bayern’s first DFB Cup for six years the first domestic cup of his career.

For England, Kane scored 12 times in 14 appearances as the Three Lions won every qualifier and finished third at the World Cup, their best tournament result since 1966. Six of his goals came in North America.

The Ballon d’Or period runs from August 2025 to July 2026, meaning Wednesday’s goal and assist against Arsenal do not count. Nor do his eight goals in nine Bundesliga and Champions League matches this season, or six in four games for England, although they suggest last season was no one-off.

The strongest case against Kane concerns team achievement. Bayern lost 6-5 on aggregate to PSG in the Champions League semi-finals, with Kane’s equaliser coming in the 94th minute of the second leg. England lost 2-1 to Argentina in Atlanta, Lautaro Martinez scoring from a Messi cross in stoppage time. Spain won the tournament, Rodri was named its best player and Kylian Mbappe claimed the Golden Boot with 10 goals, while Kane finished joint-fifth.

Lamine Yamal, who scored 24 goals and supplied 18 assists, won back-to-back LaLiga titles and a World Cup winner’s medal at 19. He is the obvious rival and will surely win the award one day, perhaps repeatedly. Kylian Mbappe scored 42 for Real Madrid, but Madrid ended the season without a trophy, while France lost the third-place play-off 6-4 to England.

PSG’s European triumph was built on a collective effort involving Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz and Ousmane Dembele. Kane’s 14 Champions League goals in 13 matches, only one fewer than Mbappe, came largely against stronger opposition than Heidenheim.

Michael Olise was voted Bundesliga player of the season after creating more league goals than anyone. That may complicate Kane’s case, but it also shows Bayern had two of Europe’s finest attackers and one scored 73 times.

If Kane is denied, there is precedent for protest. In 2024, Real Madrid cancelled its trip to Paris after learning Vinicius Junior would not win. England fans and media need not sulk. At the Palladium, if Yamal is announced instead, the response from the stalls is obvious:

“Oh no he didn’t!”