Kane beat Mbappe to Ballon d'Or by just 28 points

What the report says

Harry Kane won the men’s Ballon d’Or ahead of Kylian Mbappe by 28 points, according to voting figures released by organisers and reported by BBC Sport Football. Kane received 1,055 points, while Mbappe finished on 1,027. The result was described as one of the closest margins in the award’s history, and it marked the first time an English player has won the prize since Michael Owen in 2001.

BBC Sport said Kane’s victory followed a season in which he scored 73 goals in 65 matches, helping Bayern Munich to a league and cup double and contributing to England’s third-place finish at the World Cup. Lamine Yamal was third with 881 points, ahead of Rodri, Lionel Messi and several other high-profile nominees. The award is decided by 100 journalists using a weighted points system.

The article places Kane’s win in historical context, noting that the Ballon d’Or has occasionally been decided by very narrow margins. Lionel Messi’s 2019 victory over Virgil van Dijk was by seven points, while even tighter one-point finishes have occurred in earlier years. For Kane, the result makes him the fifth English player to win the award, joining Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen.