Election for world footballer: individual title for the team player

When Harry Kane heard his name, he covered his face with his hands. The FC Bayern attacker and captain of the English national team could hardly believe that he had won the Ballon d’Or. After a moment of overwhelm and pause, Kane took the stage at the Palladium Theater in London late Monday night to accept the Golden Ball and applause.

Touched and visibly excited, Kane then gave an acceptance speech that lasted more than ten minutes, in which he felt like he acknowledged pretty much everyone who had played a part in him being crowned the best footballer in the world. Among other things, the 33-year-old thanked his current teammates and sent greetings to his ill coach Vincent Kompany. At the same time, he also mentioned all the other coaches he had had throughout his career. And he recalled that his path was by no means linear. It was also worth considering: Unlike the rise of his competitors Kylian Mbappé, 27, from Real Madrid and Lamine Yamal, 19, from FC Barcelona, ​​who had already become superstars as teenagers.

“I wasn’t the kid that went straight up,” Kane said. He was once rejected from Arsenal FC when he was eight years old. The verdict at the time was that he was too chubby and not athletic enough. Later he had to fight his way up through the third and second divisions. At Tottenham Hotspur, Kane became an exceptional striker and top scorer in the English Premier League before moving to FC Bayern in mid-2023 for almost 100 million euros in order to finally win team titles there.

Now Kane has won the Ballon d'Or by a narrow margin over Mbappé, after the best season of his career. Kane scored 73 goals in 65 competitive games for FC Bayern and England's national team. He became German champion and cup winner last season and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with Munich. With England he came third in the World Cup. In all of this, Kane always stood out as a great team player who not only waited up front for assists from his colleagues, but also won balls on the defensive, helped build up the game and made passes in the style of a playmaker.

"I ran out of superlatives to describe your achievements a long time ago. But I'm very pleased to see that you have now been officially recognized by the football world," said England's German national coach Thomas Tuchel. The individual award was “the reward for his overall impressive life achievement,” said Bavaria’s sports director Max Eberl. The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport highlighted Kane's “unpretentious nature”. He manages to "always remain normal in a world full of superstars with talent, but also enormous egos. If there was a right time for Kane to win the Ballon d'Or, it was this." For the Spanish newspaper El País, Kane is “probably the most underrated figure in world football in the last decade”.

Michael Owen was the last Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or in 2001. The last time from the Bundesliga was Matthias Sammer in 1996, who played for Borussia Dortmund at the time. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was last honored by the Munich team in 1981. 45 years later, it is also “a proud day for FC Bayern,” said President Herbert Hainer.

The Ballon d'Or for Kane is linked to the hope of the people of Munich that the appeal of the award will improve the global perception of FC Bayern. The club is always a bit overshadowed by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and some clubs from the Premier League, which is best marketed globally. Paris Saint-Germain, most recently two-time winners of the Champions League, is also part of this competition. It is said disparagingly in England that FC Bayern wins its many titles in the Bundesliga without any competition in a Farmers League (training league).

So it was no coincidence that when they congratulated Kane, the people of Munich also emphasized that anything is possible for an FC Bayern player. “FC Bayern is a stage for world class,” said Eberl. The Munich team hope that Kane's title will make it easier for them to attract other potential Ballon d'Or winners in the future. Or even keep them. Like Michael Olise, who came ninth this time. The Spanish Alexia Putellas, who moved from FC Barcelona to the London City Lionesses in the summer, was named the best female footballer. National player Klara Bühl from FC Bayern had to settle for twelfth place.