The exact points that separated Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe in Ballon d’Or race revealed as official voting figures emerge | Football News

Harry Kane beat Kylian Mbappe by just 28 points to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or, official voting figures reveal.

Harry Kane’s first Ballon d’Or came after a much tighter contest than the final announcement might have suggested. Kylian Mbappe finished just 28 points behind the Bayern Munich striker, with the official voting figures now revealing how the 100-member jury divided its support between the two leading contenders.

Kane edges Mbappe after a closely fought 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 received 1,027. The narrow gap shows just how close the race was between the two stars.Kane was named the winner on 40 of the 100 voting ballots, while Mbappe received the top spot on 23. Those votes helped the England captain secure the award, although Mbappe remained firmly in contention until the final results were counted.

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

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

Where Kane’s victory ranks among the closest Ballon d’Or decisions

Although Kane and Mbappe were separated by only 28 points, their contest was not the closest in the award’s history. The figures released by L’Equipe place it among the more closely contested recent editions, but several previous winners have prevailed by even smaller margins.

Kylian Mbappe backs Ballon d’Or hopes after historic World Cup campaign

Lionel Messi defeated Virgil van Dijk by seven points in 2019, making it the narrowest margin of recent voting contests. The result followed a season in which Van Dijk had helped Liverpool win the Champions League, while Messi collected his sixth Ballon d’Or.The historical margins become even tighter when earlier editions are considered. Matthias Sammer beat Brazilian 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 considerably smaller electorate than the international panel used today.The comparison is useful because the Ballon d’Or’s voting structure has changed considerably over the decades. Kane’s 28-point victory came from a system in which 100 journalists each selected 10 players, giving every ballot considerably more scope to influence the final standings than the smaller electorate of earlier editions.

How the 2026 Ballon d’Or voting system worked

The official breakdown covers the top 10 in both the 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 countries in the FIFA rankings, while the women’s award uses representatives from the top 50. Only one journalist from each eligible country is entitled to submit a ballot.Each voter selects 10 players from the respective list of 30 nominees. The 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.That structure means the maximum possible score is 1,500 points for the men’s award and 750 for the women’s. Kane’s 1,055 points represented more than two-thirds of the maximum available, while Mbappe’s 1,027 left him only 28 behind.The awards considered performances during the 2025-26 season. That distinction also applied to players whose circumstances changed after the campaign: Rodri, who now plays for Barcelona, was assessed on his performances for Manchester City and his World Cup success with Spain.The men’s top 10 showed a substantial 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 on 612.The men’s Ballon d’Or 2026: Official top 10

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 figures also revealed several close contests further down the standings. Alexia Putellas won the award for a third time, equalling the record held by her Spain team-mate Aitana Bonmati.Putellas, who now plays for London City Lionesses after representing Barcelona during the 2025-26 season, received 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 Football – Ballon d’Or – London Palladium, London, Britain – October 26, 2026 London City Lionesses’ Alexia Putellas celebrates after winning the women’s Ballon d’Or award Action Images via

The battle for third place was particularly close. Manchester City forward Bunny Shaw collected 334 points, just two more than Lyon’s Melchie Dumornay, who finished on 332.There was also little to separate the players further down the rankings. Patri Guijarro finished fifth with 221 points, while Caroline Graham Hansen and Pernille Harder both collected 220. As the two players were tied on points, their final positions were decided by the number of first-place votes, with Graham Hansen placed sixth and Harder seventh.Claudia Pina and Arsenal’s Alessia Russo also finished level on 155 points. Their final positions were decided using the same tiebreaking rule, while Temwa Chawinga completed the top 10 with 113 points.The women’s Ballon d’Or 2026: Official top 10