Harry Kane Reveals Ballon d’Or Dream: How England and Bayern Munich Star Can Make It Come True in 2026

Harry Kane has admitted that he “would love to win the Ballon d’Or”.

The 32-year-old Bayern Munich goal machine made that ambition clear on Monday when he spoke to the media ahead of England’s October games against Wales and Latvia.

Kane has been in blistering form for Bayern so far this season, scoring 18 goals in 10 games.

Harry Kane: “Obviously, I would love to win the Ballon d’Or”

Kane made no attempt to play down his personal ambition, openly stating that winning football’s biggest individual prize is firmly on his mind.

“Obviously I would love to win the Ballon d’Or,” he said. “Essentially it is a team trophy that the best individual from that team wins so no matter how you do in a season unless you win the biggest competitions it is going to be a Champions League winner or a World Cup winner this time around.

“Especially when you are this early in the season it is impossible to talk about it. I would love to win it for sure, it would be an accumulation of doing something great individually and as a team.”

Kane knows what it will take. His scoring output has long been elite — yet goals alone have never been enough to swing the votes.

Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or history

Kane has placed in the top 25 of the Ballon d’Or rankings seven times over the past decade. He finished 24th in 2017, 10th in 2018, 23rd in 2021, 21st in 2022, 19th in 2023 and 10th again in 2024.

In the recent 2025 Ballon d’Or, Kane placed 13th despite scoring 41 goals for Bundesliga champions Bayern. He collected 112 voting points — 1,268 fewer than winner Ousmane Dembele, and 99 points behind Cole Palmer, who was the highest-ranked Englishman in eighth.

Despite that modest result, Kane remains highly motivated to build on last season, which saw him finally win the first major team trophy of his career.

He added: “When you win a title like I did last year, maybe it could be easy to go the other way and be like, ‘OK I’ve done what I wanted to achieve.’ But it has given me more motivation to do more and be better. I think I have shown that this year.

“I was interested in how I would feel after winning a trophy. Obviously there is still a lot more I want to achieve in terms of other trophies and bigger trophies for sure.

“But I think it was always just, in my head, what I was going to feel like after I did achieve winning my first one. But for sure, I pushed myself the other way in terms of being even better, eating even cleaner, doing more gym. Just trying to get the most out of what I have got right now.”

How Harry Kane can win the Ballon d’Or in 2026

The reality is brutally simple. To win the Ballon d’Or, Kane must win either the Champions League with Bayern or the World Cup with England — and he must be the driving force behind that success.

The history of recent Ballon d’Or winners is clear. Trophies determine the shortlist. Spectacular individual numbers then separate the winner from the rest.

Kane is already delivering the second part. He has struck 102 goals in 105 games for Bayern since moving to Germany.

But he knows that finishing as a semi-finalist with 50 goals will only bring him another mid-table finish in the rankings — respected, but overlooked.

On what winning a Ballon d’Or might be like, Kane said: “It would be almost the perfect season. The opportunity is there when you are playing at a club like Bayern — who are always one of the favourites to win the Champions League. With England we are going to be one of the favourites to win the World Cup.”

If Bayern lift the Champions League thanks to his goals — or England finally end their trophy drought with him leading the line — the narrative will write itself.

Harry Kane “fully all in with Bayern”

Kane also spoke about his club future during Monday’s chat with the media. A return to Tottenham Hotspur has long been mooted. Spurs boss Thomas Frank even said last month in response to rumours of a £56.7 million release clause: “If he wants to join us he’s more than welcome.”

But Kane — though he refused to completely close the door on his Premier League career — said he was “fully all in with Bayern” right now, hinting that a new contract could be on the horizon.

“In terms of staying longer, I could definitely see that,” he said. “I spoke openly a couple of weeks ago that I have not had those conversations with Bayern yet, but if they were to arise I would be willing to talk and have an honest conversation. Obviously it depends on how the next year or so goes and what we achieve together. Right now, I would say we are in a fantastic moment and I am not thinking about anything else.

“Going back to my first point with Bayern right now I am fully all in with Bayern.”

The move to Germany has clearly brought him stability both on and off the pitch. His young family have embraced the lifestyle, right down to wearing traditional Bavarian outfits for Oktoberfest.

“It was a good few hours there with the team,” he said. “I had one beer which was enough in those big glasses. So that was a good day, especially after the win on Saturday. I am pretty used to wearing lederhosen now. Even the kids have a day at school where they wear it, and my girls wear the dirndls and all that. It is becoming just part of our life and it is just a nice part of the culture.”

Could Harry Kane still return to the Premier League one day?

Despite being settled in Munich, Kane did not completely rule out a future return to England. He acknowledged that his position has changed over time but made clear that he would not predict what might happen later in his career.

He admitted that when he first joined Bayern he assumed he would eventually return to the Premier League, but now describes it as less of a certainty rather than off the table entirely.

For now, though, his focus is not on unfinished business in England — it is on unfinished business with football’s biggest prize.

Kane has spent years being admired. In 2026, he wants to be crowned.