The exact points separating Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe in the Ballon d’Or race have been revealed as official voting figures emerge

Harry Kane beat Kylian Mbappe by just 28 points to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or, official voting figures show. Harry Kane’s first Ballon d’Or came after a much tighter contest than the final announcement might suggest. Kylian Mbappe finished just 28 points behind the Bayern Munich forward, with official voting figures now revealing how the 100-strong panel split their support between the two front-runners.

Kane beats Mbappe after close vote

Kane finished with 1,055 points from the 100 journalists who voted for the Men’s Ballon d’Or, just 28 ahead of Kylian Mbappe, who scored 1,027. The narrow gap shows how close the race was between the two stars.Kane was named the winner in 40 of the 100 ballots, while Mbappe claimed first place in 23. Those votes helped the England captain secure the award, although Mbappe remained firmly in contention until the final results were tallied.

London, Oct 27 (IANS) England captain Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or at a ceremony at London’s Palladium.

Kane lifted the trophy at the London Palladium on Monday night, becoming the first Englishman to win the men’s Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001. He earned the honor after scoring 73 goals for Bayern Munich and England in the 2025-26 season, helping Bayern win the domestic Treble and captaining England to a third-place finish at the World Cup.It was another near miss for Mbappe in his first attempt at the award. Kane’s 28-point lead was also smaller than the 41-point gap between Rodrigo and Vinicius Junior in 2024, making it one of the closest Ballon d’Or races in recent years.

Where Kane’s win is among the closest Ballon d’Or decisions

Although Kane and Mbappe were separated by just 28 points, their match was not the closest in the history of the award. Data published Team making it one of the more closely contested recent editions, but several previous winners have won by even narrower margins.

Kylian Mbappe is backing Ballon d’Or hopes after a historic World Cup campaign

Lionel Messi beat Virgil van Dijk by seven points in 2019, the narrowest margin in recent polls. The result followed a season in which Van Dijk helped Liverpool win the Champions League while Messi won his sixth Ballon d’Or.The historical margins become even tighter when we consider earlier editions. Matthias Sammer beat Brazil forward Ronaldo by a single point in 1996, while Sir Bobby Charlton also finished one point ahead of Eusebio in 1966. Only 22 people voted in that 1966 edition, a significantly smaller number of voters than the international panel used today.The comparison is useful because the Ballon d’Or voting structure has changed considerably over the decades. Kane’s 28-point victory came from a system in which 100 journalists selected 10 players, giving each ballot significantly more room to influence the final standings than smaller voters in previous editions.

How the Ballon d’Or 2026 voting system worked

The official schedule includes the top 10 in both men’s and women’s awards. The men’s panel consisted of 100 journalists, while 50 journalists voted for the Ballon d’Or Feminin, making 150 voters across the two categories.Under the system introduced in 2022, the men’s award is voted on by journalists representing the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings, while representatives from the top 50 are used for the women’s. Only one journalist from each eligible country is entitled to cast a ballot.Each voter selects 10 players from their respective list of 30 nominees. Players are then awarded points according to their position on each ballot: 15 for first place, 12 for second, 10 for third, followed by eight, seven, five, four, three, two and one point.This structure means that the maximum possible score is 1,500 points for the men’s award and 750 points for the women’s award. Kane’s 1,055 points accounted for more than two-thirds of the maximum available, while Mbappe’s 1,027 left him just 28 behind.The awards took into account performances during the 2025-26 season. This distinction also extended to players whose circumstances changed after the campaign: Rodri, who now plays for Barcelona, ​​was rated based on his performances for Manchester City and his World Cup success with Spain.The men’s top 10 showed a significant gap between the leading pair and the rest of the field. Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal finished third with 881 points, 146 behind Mbappe and 174 short of Kane. Rodri was fourth with 726, followed by Lionel Messi with 612.Men’s Ballon d’Or 2026: Official Top 10PositionPlayerClub and countryPoints1Harry KaneBayern Munich and England10552Kylian MbappeReal Madrid and France10273Lamine YamalBarcelona and Spain8814RodriManchester City and Spain7265Lionel MessiInter Miami and Argentina6126KhvichaOPararus KvaratskMain5Hel DembeleParis Saint-Germain and France4188Erling HaalandManchester City and Norway3789Michael OliseBayern Munich and France29610Fabian RuizParis Saint-Germain and Spain201

Putellas wins the women’s award, but the lower places are exceptionally tight

The women’s Ballon d’Or produced a more comfortable victory at the top, although the voting results also revealed some close battles further down the pecking order. Alexia Putellas won the award for the third time, equaling the record held by her Spanish teammate Aitana Bonmati.Putellas, who now plays for London City Lionesses after representing Barcelona in the 2025-26 season, scored 618 points. Her former Barcelona team-mate Ewa Pajor finished second with 532, leaving an 86-point gap between them. Putellas’ total was also more than four-fifths of the maximum 750 points available in the women’s vote.

Soccer Soccer – Ballon d’Or – London Palladium, London, Britain – October 26, 2026 Alexia Putellas of the London City Lioness celebrates winning the Women’s Ballon d’Or Action Images via

The fight for third place was particularly close. Manchester City striker Bunny Shaw amassed 334 points, just two more than Lyon’s Melchie Dumornay, who finished on 332.There was also little separating the players further down the leaderboard. Patri Guijarro finished fifth with 221 points, while Caroline Graham Hansen and Pernille Harder both scored 220. As the two players were tied on points, their final placings were decided by first-place votes, with Graham Hansen placing sixth and Harder seventh.Arsenal’s Claudia Pina and Alessia Russo also finished on 155 points. Their final placing was decided by the same shootout rule, while Temwa Chawinga rounded out the top 10 with 113 points.Women’s Ballon d’Or 2026: Official Top 10PositionPlayerClub and CountryPoints1Alexia PutellasBarcelona and Spain6182Ewa PajorBarcelona and Poland5323Bunny ShawManchester City and Jamaica3344Melchie DumornayOL Lyonnes and Haiti3325Patri GuijarroBarcelona and Spain2216P HanerBarille22216P HanerBarille2 HarderBayern Munich and Denmark2208Claudia PinaBarcelona and Spain1559Alessia RussoArsenal and England15510Temwa ChawingaKansas City Current and Malawi113