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London calling for Kane
The 70th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or saw the prestigious ceremony relocate from its traditional Paris home to the English capital. On home soil, the prolific frontman claimed football's top individual prize, edging out Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal.
Kane secured the trophy following a phenomenal 2025-26 campaign. He amassed an astonishing 73 goals across all competitions for club and country, a seasonal tally bettered only by Lionel Messi's iconic 82-goal haul during the 2011-12 season.
Guti cries foul on 'orchestrated' victory
IMAGODespite those staggering numbers, Guti voiced strong suspicions over the voting process. Speaking on the Spanish television programme El Chiringuito, the former Real Madrid playmaker highlighted what he felt was a highly suspicious alignment of events regarding the host city.
"It just so happens that, for the 70th anniversary, they move the ceremony to London and someone from London wins it," Guti remarked. "It's an incredible coincidence that they move it to London and someone from London wins it, isn't it? I mean, it's as if everything is…"
When a fellow pundit interjected to suggest the outcome was "orchestrated", Guti quickly agreed. "Completely. Absolutely," he responded. "That's what I think, and it's what I've thought about this award for a long time."
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The Spaniard also pointed to the striker's stunned demeanour when the result was revealed. "I'm telling you, when I saw the look on his face when they announced Harry Kane, he never in his life thought he was going to win it," he said. "Never. I think he expected both Lamine Yamal and Mbappe to finish ahead of him. You only have to look at his face.”
A razor-thin margin of victory
Away from the Spanish studio's conspiracy theories, the official voting breakdown painted a picture of a fiercely contested battle. France Football editor-in-chief Vincent Garcia confirmed that the final margin of victory was exceptionally tight.
"This year, there were several serious contenders," Garcia explained. "The two closest were the top two, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, and the race between them was decided by very little. The points gap between Kane and Mbappe was smaller than the gap between Rodri and Vinicius in 2024, which was 41 points - and that was already a very narrow margin at the time."
Garcia noted that momentum shifted dramatically late in the voting process. "It was incredibly close," he added. "I was watching the results in real time during the month of the vote. 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."
Proving the doubters wrong
IMAGOKane will now return to club action carrying the weight of being officially recognised as the world's best player. The seasoned striker must immediately refocus on maintaining his relentless goalscoring pace to silence lingering sceptics and justify his newly minted status.
With a historic 73-goal benchmark set last season, expectations will be astronomical for the remainder of the current campaign. He will look to use this landmark triumph as a catalyst for further silverware, while European rivals like Mbappe and Yamal will undoubtedly be motivated to dethrone him in the coming year.