Harry Kane ends England's 25-year wait for the Ballon d'Or

England captain Harry Kane has won the Ballon d'Or, the annual award for the world's best footballer, at a ceremony held in London. The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the first Englishman to receive it since Michael Owen in 2001, and the fifth in the award's history. The earlier English winners were Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979).

Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, with Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal third.

Last season's numbers

Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches for Bayern last season, the most any Bayern player has managed in a single campaign. Counting England games, his tally was 73 goals and eight assists in 65 matches. He finished as the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals, added 14 in the Champions League and 10 in the German Cup, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final win over Stuttgart.

He won the award without lifting either of football's biggest trophies: both Bayern, in the Champions League, and England, in the World Cup, lost at the semi-final stage. At club level he won the German league and cup double.

Reaction

Kane told Dazn that few people would have expected him to get this far, and that he had to work through many ups and downs early in his career. England manager Thomas Tuchel said he was delighted, while Prince William called Kane a brilliant captain. The Wembley arches were lit gold on Monday night in celebration.

Looking ahead

This season Kane has scored 10 goals in his first 12 games for Bayern, plus six in four Nations League matches for England. Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain, has 10 goals and 10 assists in 13 games for Barcelona this season.