Harry Kane’s victory over Kylian Mbappé in the 2026 Ballon d’Or voting was decided by an even smaller margin than the 41-point difference between Rodri and Vinícius Júnior in 2024.

Vincent Garcia, editor of France Football and the official responsible for overseeing the award, revealed the details after Kane received the honour at a ceremony in London on Monday.

Speaking to L’Équipe after the event at the London Palladium, Garcia explained that the race between Kane and Mbappé remained extremely close, with only a tiny points difference separating the two players.

The full voting results are expected to be published by France Football on Saturday.

Garcia said, “The points gap between Kane and Mbappé was smaller than the gap between Rodri and Vinícius Júnior in 2024, which was 41 points, and that was already a very narrow margin at the time.

“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.”

The 33-year-old Kane claimed the Ballon d’Or for the first time after scoring 73 goals in 65 appearances for Bayern Munich and England.

Bayern enjoyed a successful season, winning both the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal.

Kane also scored six goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where England finished third. His triumph made him the first Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001.

Mbappé finished second, recording his best result in the award’s history, while Lamine Yamal took third place.

The Real Madrid forward finished as the leading scorer in La Liga with 25 goals, the UEFA Champions League with 15 goals and the World Cup with 10 goals.