Harry Kane is officially the Ballon d’Or winner, but the newly revealed voting breakdown shows just how incredibly close the race was. The Bayern Munich striker finished only 28 points ahead of Kylian Mbappé, making it the fourth-smallest winning margin in the history of the prestigious award.
@iMiaSanMia compiled a list of interesting factoids on the voting results, which we have broken down below.
Kane collected 1,055 points compared to Mbappé’s 1,027, with Lamine Yamal (881) completing the top three.
Rodri (726), Lionel Messi (612), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (541), Ousmane Dembélé (418), Erling Haaland (378), Michael Olise (296), and Fabián Ruiz (201) rounded out the top 10.
Interestingly, 40 journalists placed Kane first on their ballots, compared to 23 who selected Mbappé. However, Germany’s representative, Kicker journalist Karlheinz Wild, actually voted for the Frenchman as his winner. His ballot had Mbappé first, Rodri second, and Kane third.
Wild explained his reasoning to Kicker, arguing that Rodri was the most valuable team player at the World Cup, while Mbappé was the top scorer across all three competitions. He also emphasized that the award should recognize individual performances within a team sport.
His explanation for placing Kane third — despite the striker winning the Golden Shoe again and completing a domestic double with Bayern Munich — was certainly going to generate debate among Bayern supporters.
There were several other fascinating revelations from the voting breakdown.
The international voting picture
Kane received first-place votes from 40 different countries, including England, Scotland, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, and Uruguay. His support stretched across multiple continents, demonstrating just how widely his performances were appreciated.
Meanwhile, Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, had a rather different opinion. His personal ranking placed Kane sixth, behind Mbappé, Dembélé, Yamal, Kvaratskhelia, and Messi, while Michael Olise finished seventh.
Speaking of Olise, the Bayern winger received 296 points and finished ninth overall. Interestingly, Curaçao’s representative was the only journalist to place him first. His top three consisted of Olise, Kane, and Kvaratskhelia.
There were also two journalists who did not include Kane anywhere in their top 10 — the representatives from Côte d’Ivoire and Mexico. What a joke!
Upamecano received some recognition, too
One particularly interesting detail involved Dayot Upamecano. Scotland’s representative was the only journalist to include the Bayern defender in his top 10, placing him sixth. That earned Upamecano five points and 26th place overall.
The bigger picture
Kane has reached the pinnacle of individual football recognition, and the voting breakdown makes his achievement even more remarkable. He won despite facing an incredibly competitive field, with Mbappé pushing him all the way to the final points tally.
A 28-point difference across an international voting panel is remarkably small, but the name at the top belongs to Bayern Munich’s number nine.
No matter how many of these dopes tried to screw it up, Harry Kane is the Ballon d’Or winner!
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