Ballon d'Or 2026 Results: Kane Wins, Mbappe and Yamal Follow

Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d'Or on Monday, Oct. 26, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappe in second and Lamine Yamal in third, per ESPN. Kane is the first Englishman to win in 25 years and the first since Michael Owen in 2001. The gala was held in London rather than the traditional Paris.

Ballon d'Or 2026 Results: The Top 10

ESPN's full rankings put the men's top 10 in this order:

1. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)

2. Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

3. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

4. Rodri (Barcelona)

5. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

6. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG)

7. Ousmane Dembele (PSG)

8. Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

9. Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)

10. Fabian Ruiz (PSG)

Places 11 to 20 went to Jude Bellingham, Pau Cubarsi, Achraf Hakimi, Vitinha, Declan Rice, Ferran Torres, Vinicius Junior, Marc Cucurella, Joao Neves and Willian Pacho, in that order.

Places 21 to 29 went to Gabriel (Arsenal), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich), Marquinhos (PSG), Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Julian Quinones (Al Qadsiah), and Sadio Mane (Al Nassr) and William Saliba (Arsenal), who share 29th.

By club, Paris Saint-Germain had three players in the top 10 (Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and Fabian Ruiz), while Barcelona and Bayern Munich each had two. PSG was also named Men's Club of the Year.

How the Favorite Priced Out

Our Oct. 22 board had Kane at 2/7 with Betfair, per a Bookies.com board dated Oct. 22, which converts to roughly 78 percent implied probability. A TNT Sports comparison from Oct. 19 had him at 8/15 with both 10bet and William Hill, about 65 percent. The favorite won.

Yamal was listed at 9/4 with bet365 and finished third. Mbappe was listed at 18/1 and finished second. Those were pre-ceremony snapshots from different dates and books, so treat them as a record of where the market sat, not as closing prices.

Kane's Season and How the Vote Works

ESPN's Alex Kirkland wrote that the 33-year-old "starred for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and the Champions League and led England to the World Cup semifinals, scoring 73 goals in the process." The article does not break that total down by competition or label its timeframe, so we are repeating the figure as ESPN wrote it.

The vote is cast by 100 journalists from around the world. Each juror picks 10 players in order from a 30-player shortlist, and the player with the most points wins. Kane is the fifth English player to receive the award. Mbappe, per ESPN, became the top scorer in World Cup history this summer with 22 goals, 10 of them at this year's tournament. Yamal won the tournament with Spain and was named the men's Young Player of the Year.

Kane's reaction onstage, per ESPN: "Being in London, it is extra special, it felt like a good omen."

Kane also took the Gerd Muller Award on the night, per ESPN's list of winners, so he left London with two trophies from the gala.

The Women's Award and Every Other Winner

Alexia Putellas of Barcelona won the women's Ballon d'Or for the third time. Ewa Pajor (Barcelona) was second, Khadija Shaw (Manchester City) third, Melchie Dumornay (Lyon) fourth and Patri Guijarro (Barcelona) fifth. Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona), Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich), Claudia Pina (Barcelona), Alessia Russo (Arsenal) and Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current) completed the top 10, in that order. Barcelona players held five of the top 10 places.

The other awards, per ESPN's results page:

Men's Young Talent: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

Women's Young Talent: Vicky Lopez (Barcelona)

Men's Goalkeeper: Unai Simon (Athletic Club)

Women's Goalkeeper: Cata Coll (Barcelona)

Gerd Muller Award: Harry Kane (men) and Charlyn Corral of Pachuca (women)

Men's Club of the Year: Paris Saint-Germain

Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona

Men's Coach: Luis de la Fuente (Spain)

Women's Coach: Pere Romeu (Barcelona)

Socrates Award: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

The Winners Blunder

About two and a half hours before the ceremony was due to begin at the London Palladium, the official Ballon d'Or website published articles naming Kane, Yamal and Mbappe each as the winner. They were later removed, but screenshots spread on social media. The organizer told the BBC that "some profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online" and that the articles "should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings."

What to Watch Next

Yamal said the prize "should have been for" his Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsi, who finished 12th, per ESPN. An ESPN headline from Oct. 27 says Spain's coach said Yamal will win many Ballon d'Or awards in future.

For soccer markets that are still open, StatSniper's AI soccer predictions hub carries the daily card, and you can ask Chad about it. For the tournament that shaped this vote, see our Spain-Argentina World Cup final recap. The full rankings and award winners are on ESPN's results page.

FAQ

Who won the 2026 Ballon d'Or? Harry Kane of Bayern Munich, ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal, at the Oct. 26 ceremony in London.

Who won the women's Ballon d'Or 2026? Alexia Putellas of Barcelona, her third win. Ewa Pajor was second.

Who is the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or in 25 years? Harry Kane. The last English winner was Michael Owen in 2001, per ESPN.

How is the Ballon d'Or winner chosen? A panel of 100 journalists each ranks 10 players from a 30-player shortlist, and the most points wins.

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