Did Harry Kane deserve the Ballon d'Or? These numbers explain why he did
The Englishman scored 73 goals for club and country, won three trophies with Bayern and was decisive in the cup final. His season offers solid arguments in defense of the choice.
Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or is backed by overwhelming numbers: 73 goals and eight assists in 65 games for Bayern Munich and England. In all, he had 81 direct goal contributions — an average of 1.25 per game.
The rules offer another clue: they first assess individual performance, then team results and finally conduct and fair play. On the first two criteria, his candidacy had real substance.
How the three finalists performed
| Player | Games | Goals | Assists | Goals + assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Kane | 65 | 73 | 8 | 81 |
| Kylian Mbappé | 60 | 58 | 13 | 71 |
| Lamine Yamal | 57 | 25 | 20 | 45 |
Club and country in the 2025-26 season.
With Bayern he scored 61 goals in 51 games: 36 in the Bundesliga, 14 in the Champions League, 10 in the German Cup and one in the Super Cup. His 36 league goals also earned him the European Golden Shoe.
He was also decisive in a final, scoring all three goals in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart that gave Bayern the Cup. The team also won the Bundesliga and the German Super Cup.
He scored all three goals in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart that gave Bayern the Cup.
With England, he scored six times at the World Cup and helped his country finish third.
His rivals also had strong cases. Yamal was a world champion and produced more assists; Mbappé finished as the Champions League's top scorer with 15 goals, one more than Kane.
The case for the Englishman rests on combining the highest goal tally of the three finalists with trophies and a performance that decided the cup final.
Sources: Sky Sports · Flashscore
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