It's anyone's guess at this point if it will be Spain's Lamine Yamal, Bayern Munich and England's Harry Kane, or perhaps even Real Madrid and France's Kylian Mbappe. The trio of attacking superstars are frontrunners to win this year's Ballon d'Or, but as the end of October edges closer, it really seems like Yamal and Kane are going head-to-head for the honour now that voting has officially closed.

Ironically enough, both Kane and Yamal have been very impactful for their nations during the international break while the intense Ballon d'Or debate continues. Kane scored a goal in the 3-2 loss to Spain at Wembley and the 2-0 win over Czechia whilst Yamal scored in the win over England and bagged a brace and assist in the 4-1 win over Croatia in Seville.

Added, Deeper Meaning For Kane

For the case of Kane, though, who is coming off of a season where he tallied 61 goals and 7 assists from 51 matches across all competitions for Bayern, there would be added meaning behind him winning the Ballon d'Or.

For starters, the awards ceremony is being held at the London Palladium in what's a homecoming of sorts for the former Tottenham Hotspur man, but more as the player that wears the captain's armband for England and is the nation's record goal scorer.

To add to that, it's been over 20 years since an English player has won the award despite the number of sensational English footballers that have graced the game for the past two decades that were largely dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi winning the award.

Michael Owen won the Ballon d'Or back in 2001 when he was a Liverpool player, and still ranks as the last English player to have won the award. Before Owen, it was the late Kevin Keegan who was the last English player to have won it in 1978 and 1979 when he was with Hamburg SV in Germany. Jude Bellingham had finished 3rd in 2024, but before that, the last time any English players were in the top three was when Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard finished second and third in 2005.

Ballon D'Or Would Be "Massive Success"

In the past month , Kane has been absolutely peppered with questions about the Ballon d'Or by the press and pundits alike, but he's remained increasingly humble and focused on his football with Bayern and England. Some of his direct competitors for the award haven't been as quiet, but the England skipper isn't taking part of any sort of self-promotion.

As such, Kane still knows how massive of an achievement the Ballon d'Or would be.

The Ballon d’Or would be a massive success for me, but at the moment I’m concentrating on performing again this season.<br><br>It’s obviously special for me that the ceremony is taking place in London. An English player hasn’t won it for over 20 years, even though there have been a lot of great English players in that time.

Fabrizio Romano on X

Only time will now tell if Kane winds up getting the honor in just a few week's time, but regardless of what the outcome is in London, there's simply no denying the outrageous numbers he's putting up. There's no one else in world football that's be in as good of form as the England skipper since the start of the 2025/26 campaign and he's showing no signs of slowing down for either Bayern or England any time soon.