Harry Kane beat second-placed Kylian Mbappe to the men’s Ballon d’Or by just 28 points – one of the smallest margins of victory in the history of the award.
Organizers released voting figures on Saturday, showing England captain Kane received 1,055 points, compared to 1,027 for Real Madrid’s French striker Mbappé.
Bayern Munich striker Kane became the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001, while French talisman Mbappé also claimed his best result, well ahead of Spanish striker Lamine Yamal, who was third on 881 points.
It was the smallest margin of victory since Argentine great Lionel Messi beat Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk by seven points in 2019, while the men’s Ballon d’Or was twice decided by a single point.
This happened when England’s World Cup winner Bobby Charlton, who was later knighted, beat Portuguese star Eusebio by the smallest possible margin in 1966, and German defender Matthias Sammer repeated the narrow one-point victory by edging out Brazilian striker Ronaldo in 1996.
Mbappé could take pleasure in Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or experience as the legendary frontman, who presented his award to Kane in London on Monday, won in 1997 and again in 2002.
Gn sports
