Harry Kane narrowly beat Kylian Mbappe to the 2026 Ballon d’Or title, according to award chief Vincent Garcia.On Monday night, and fittingly at the London Palladium, the England captain and Bayern Munich superstar Kane was crowned as the best footballer in the world by winning the prestigious individual honour.Kane has England’s 25-year wait for a Ballon d’Or winner as he finished in front of Mbappe and YamalAFPThe 33-year-old has become the first Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001 to lift the Golden Ball, and fifth-ever after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen.Mbappe finished second in the final rankings and Lamine Yamal came third, while Jude Bellingham was the next-best English player in 11th.However, it could have been a very different outcome had the voting swung the other way by just a small margin.How close was Mbappe to beating Kane?France Football present the Ballon d’Or each year, and the magazine’s editor Garcia has revealed that Mbappe was actually on course to win with the most votes from the participating international journalists.“I was watching the results in real time during the month of the vote,” he told L’Equipe du soir, with the full points list set to be revealed soon.“Kylian led the race for a long time, but Harry Kane came back into contention, and in the end, it was decided by a very, very small number of points.”“It was even tighter than between Rodri and Vinicius!” he added, with the former beating the latter by just 41 points in 2024.Voting for the Ballon d’Or is based on three main pieces of criteria from the previous season – individual performances and character, team achievements, and fair play.Kane hit 68 goals and assists in all competitions for Bayern during the 2025/26 campaign, which is the most from any player across Europe’s top five leagues.He won the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Franz Beckenbauer Supercup, before scoring six goals and assisting another at the 2026 World Cup as England finished third.Mbappe is said to have come very close to winning, with the winning gap between him and Kane less than 2024’s narrow victoryAFPWho else won at the 2026 Ballon d’Or?While Kane won the men’s award, ex-Barcelona star Alexia Putellas won the women’s honour for the third time.Yamal lifted a third consecutive Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best U21 player, and Unai Simon was named the best goalkeeper via the Yashin Trophy.Kane also won the Gerd Muller Trophy for the most international and club goals with 73, and his Three Lions teammate Bukayo Saka took home the Socrates Award for best humanitarian work.Champions League and Ligue 1 winners Paris Saint-Germain are the men’s club of the year, with European champions and Spanish top flight victors Barcelona the best in the women’s voting.Both the 2026 Men’s and Women’s Coaches of the Year were Spanish.Luis de la Fuente won the 2026 World Cup in the summer, Spain’s first title in 16 years, and Pere Romeu oversaw the quadruple winning season at Barcelona Femeni.