October 26: Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal head into tonight’s Ballon d’Or ceremony as the leading contenders for football’s biggest individual prize, both chasing a piece of history and their first Ballon d’Or.
The 70th edition of the awards will take place at the London Palladium from 20:00 GMT, the first time the ceremony has been held in the British capital. London was chosen to mark 70 years since Englishman Stanley Matthews won the inaugural prize in 1956.
Kane arrives as the bookies’ favorite after a remarkable season for Bayern Munich and England. The 33-year-old scored 61 goals for Bayern in 2025/26, including 36 goals in the Bundesliga, as the club won the league and DFB-Pokal. He added 12 more for England and scored six goals at the World Cup, where Thomas Tuchel’s side finished third.
Victory would make Kane the first England winner since Michael Owen in 2001 and only the fifth ever, after Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen.
No one in elite football contributed to more goals than Kane in the period under review. Actually, it’s not particularly close.
His main challenge comes from Yamal, who has already packed enough into his teenage years that his candidacy feels almost routine.
The Barcelona winger scored 24 goals and provided 17 assists in 45 games for the club last season, helping Barca retain the La Liga title before playing a central role in Spain’s World Cup triumph, despite not matching Kane or Mbappé’s goal tally in the competition. He was also named LaLiga player of the season after contributing 16 goals and 11 assists in the league.
He’s also followed up with a stellar opening to this campaign, which isn’t officially part of the discussions but appears to be influencing votes.
At 19, Yamal would become the youngest Ballon d’Or winner in history.
Kylian Mbappé is also a serious contender, but without a team trophy to his name, the Frenchman is expected to arrive on Monday night as just another spectator, despite his best efforts to tell the media how much he deserves it.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)