KANE MAKES HISTORY WITH NARROWEST BALLON D’OR WINNING MARGIN

October 30, 2026

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By ‘Balogun Ibrahim

Harry Kane won the Ballon d’Or by the narrowest margin under the award’s current voting system, beating Kylian Mbappe by just 28 points, France Football, the magazine responsible for the award, disclosed on Friday.

The publication released a breakdown of the voting results in its Friday edition.

Kane, who plays for Bayern Munich, secured 40 first-place votes from the 100-member jury and amassed 1,055 points, becoming the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001.

France captain and Real Madrid forward Mbappe received 23 first-place votes and finished second with 1,027 points.

The previous closest contest under the current voting format occurred in 2024, when Rodri, then playing for Manchester City, defeated Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior by 41 points.

In the previous edition, Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele collected 1,380 points, finishing 321 points ahead of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal.

Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain this summer, placed third in the latest voting with 881 points, 174 behind Kane.

The Ballon d’Or is determined through votes cast by journalists representing the top 100 countries in the FIFA men’s rankings and the top 50 nations in the women’s rankings.