Harry Kane won the Ballon d'Or after trailing Kylian Mbappe in the voting for much of the process, according to Vincent Garcia, editor of France Football, the magazine that presents the award.
Kane arrived at the ceremony in London among the favourites, with opinion split between him, Mbappe and Lamine Yamal. The Bayern Munich striker ended the night with the Golden Ball, becoming the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001 after his best scoring season to date. Mbappe finished second after ending as top scorer in La Liga, the Champions League and the World Cup.
Voting race was close
Garcia said Mbappe, now 27 and still without a Ballon d'Or, led for a long period before Kane edged ahead. "I was watching the results in real time during the month of the vote. Kylian Mbappe led the race for a long time, but Harry Kane came back into contention, and in the end, it was decided by a very, very small number of points," he said.
Before the ceremony, an administrative error saw Kane, Mbappe and Yamal all announced as winners on the official Ballon d'Or website hours before the event in London.
Kane and Yamal reactions
After receiving the award, Kane said: "It's just the journey. For any young boy or girl who wants to achieve their dream, anything is possible. I hope my journey, it wasn't straightforward, I didn't go straight to the top, I had to experience a lot of loan moves and fight my way to get to where I am now. I hope that can give you inspiration, and thank you very much."
Mbappe ended the night trophyless, but second is his highest Ballon d'Or ranking, improving on third place in 2023. Yamal won the Kopa Trophy for the third consecutive year, though he said teammate Pau Cubarsi deserved it. "I'd have liked it to be [teammate Pau] Cubarsi," Yamal said. "This prize should have been for him. He deserves it."
