From Chingford to the Ballon d'Or: why Harry Kane deserved it

It was gone midnight in the West End when they finally let him leave. Outside the London Palladium, fans who had packed the surrounding streets were still chanting his name. Inside, a 33-year-old from Chingford had just become the first Englishman in 25 years to win the Ballon d'Or.

His acceptance speech was not the speech of a man who had ever thought this was his by right. "My journey wasn't straightforward," he said. Then, looking at the young players watching: "Anything is possible with hard work, when no one else is watching."

I have watched Harry Kane for well over a decade, through the doubts, the near-misses and the jokes about his trophy cabinet. I can tell you this: the voters got it right. Here is why.

The case: 73 goals, and the ones that mattered

Start with the number, because it is ridiculous. Kane scored 73 goals for club and country in 2025-26, more than anyone in Europe. 61 of them came for Bayern Munich. He was the Bundesliga's top scorer, won the European Golden Shoe and, on the night itself, the Gerd Müller Trophy for the best striker of the season.

But plenty of strikers have racked up big numbers in a strong team. What made this season different was when the goals came.

• The cup final. On 23 May in Berlin, Bayern beat Stuttgart 3–0 in the DFB-Pokal final. Kane scored all three: a diving header, a finish into the bottom corner and a stoppage-time penalty. That sealed a league and cup double, after Bayern had wrapped up the title with four rounds to spare.
• Europe. Bayern reached the Champions League semi-finals, with Kane leading the line all the way.
• The World Cup. He scored six goals in North America, passed Gary Lineker as England's all-time leading scorer at World Cups, and captained England to third place. They lost the semi-final to Argentina, then beat France for bronze: England's best World Cup finish in 60 years.

That last part matters to me. For years, the knock on Kane was that he did not deliver when the stakes were highest. This was the season he answered it, for club and country, in the same twelve months.

The rivals

Kylian Mbappé finished second and Lamine Yamal third, with Rodri fourth and Lionel Messi fifth. All world-class, and I would not argue with anyone who loves watching Yamal more than anyone else alive. But the Ballon d'Or is meant to reward the season, and nobody put together a season with this mix of volume, consistency and silverware.

Thomas Tuchel, his old boss at Bayern and now his England manager, summed it up on the night. England, he said, are "lucky to have you as our leader."

The records keep piling up

Kane does not so much break records as collect them.

• England's record goalscorer. He passed Wayne Rooney with a penalty against Italy in Naples in March 2023. Earlier this month he scored twice against Czechia at Wembley to take his total to 91 England goals, on his 125th cap, level with Peter Shilton's record for appearances.
• Tottenham's record goalscorer. In February 2023 his 267th goal for the club, the winner against Manchester City, took him past Jimmy Greaves.
• The Premier League. His 213 league goals for Spurs leave him second on the all-time list, behind only Alan Shearer.

Chingford, and a door that closed

Kane was born in Walthamstow in 1993 and grew up in Chingford, in north-east London. He joined local side Ridgeway Rovers at six. For a year he was at Arsenal's academy, and at eight he was let go. The London Museum's account of his early years says the club reportedly felt he was too small and too slow.

It is easy to forget how ordinary that moment is. Thousands of children are released by academies every year, and most never come back. Kane went back to Ridgeway, was spotted by Watford, scored a hat-trick against Tottenham's youth side within weeks, and was invited to join Spurs. "I was there from 11 years old," he said on Monday. He signed his first professional contract on his 16th birthday.

The loan years

Even at Tottenham, nobody handed him anything. Before he became a first-team regular, he was sent out on loan four times: to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester City. Those are the spells that shape a young striker: different dressing rooms, different managers, crowds who owe you nothing.

His first Premier League start and first Premier League goal both came on 7 April 2014. From there, he barely stopped scoring.

The trophy that finally came

For all those goals, the cabinet stayed empty for an awfully long time. With Spurs he lost the League Cup finals of 2015 and 2021 and the 2019 Champions League final. With England he lost the finals of Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.

In the summer of 2023 he left for Bayern Munich, and the old joke followed him to Germany when Bayern missed out on the title in his first season. Then, on 4 May 2025, Bayer Leverkusen were held 2–2 by Freiburg and Bayern were champions with two games to spare. After more than 600 games and 400 goals, Kane had his first major trophy.

A year on, he had a double. Now he has the Ballon d'Or. I don't think that is a coincidence. You could see what winning did to him: the shoulders dropped, and the goals kept coming.

The man away from the pitch

Kane has always kept his private life fairly private, and I intend to respect that. What he has chosen to share is simple enough. He married his childhood sweetheart, Kate, and they have four children. On Monday he called her his "best friend" and thanked the children too, joking that it was past their bedtime.

He also uses his name for something useful. In October 2022, on World Mental Health Day, he launched the Harry Kane Foundation, which aims to change how a generation thinks and talks about mental health.

And then there is the NFL. Kane has said for years that he would love to try kicking in American football when his playing days are over, and he raised it again only last month. He has talked about golf as well, but he knows which is likelier: "The NFL is a lot more realistic than the golf one, let's put it that way."

Even his celebration plans were very him. "We have a cup game on Wednesday so it can't get too messy," he said, before an early flight back to Munich for training.

Why it was the right call

The Ballon d'Or has not always rewarded the right things. Sometimes it has gone to the player with the best highlights, or the best story. This time the best season and the best story were the same thing.

A boy released at eight. A teenager passed around on loan. A striker who scored hundreds of goals and was still told he would never win anything. Then, at 33, the most prolific season in Europe, a double, a World Cup medal and the game's biggest individual prize, collected on a stage a few miles from where it all started.

He deserved it. Every bit of it.

Where Cortex comes in

Kane is straight back to work this weekend, with Bayern hosting Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday. Our model, Cortex, rates Bayern's attack highly: it gives them expected goals of 2.31 to Dortmund's 1.04, makes over 2.5 goals its top pick at 76% and a Bayern win 72%. Our full weekend preview has the story behind the game. As ever, these are chances, not certainties, and every pick goes on our public track record.

Sources: AP via St. Louis Public Radio, AP via News4Jax, PA via Irish Examiner, Inside World Football, NBC Sports, Flashscore, AP via theScore: DFB-Pokal final, AP: Kane's 91st England goal, Inside World Football: Rooney record, FourFourTwo: Greaves record, London Museum, CBS Sports: first trophy, Sky Sports: Harry Kane Foundation, Reuters via Al Jazeera: NFL ambition, Heart: Kane's family

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