Harry Kane Names Two Things He Needs To Do To Win The Ballon D'Or

Harry Kane has named the two things he needs to do in order to win the Ballon d'Or award for the first time in his career.

The England and Bayern Munich star is one of the best strikers in world football today, having scored 480 goals for club and country across his career.

Now 32, Kane is set to lead the line for Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions at next summer's World Cup, which will be hosted in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The tournament has a significant weighting when it comes to Ballon d'Or contenders for that year, with Lionel Messi winning the 2023 award largely due to the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won and where he lifted the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament.

Kane reached the semi-final in 2018 and won the Golden Boot, and the quarter-final - during which he missed a penalty in a 2-1 defeat to France - in 2022.

At Euro 2024, he was the joint top scorer with three goals, but England lost in the final to Spain.

Kane has 76 goals for the Three Lions and is now comfortably their record goalscorer, while his 213 Premier League goals for previous club Tottenham puts him in second place in the all-time list behind Alan Shearer (260).

Speaking ahead of England's final World Cup qualifier against Albania on Sunday, the striker admitted that, alongside winning the World Cup itself, there is one other thing that he must achieve in order to be in genuine contention for the Ballon d'Or.

"I could score 100 goals this season but if I don't win the Champions League or the World Cup, you're probably not going to win the Ballon d'Or," he said.

"It's the same with Erling Haaland [at Manchester City]. It's the same with any player. You have to be winning those major trophies.

Kane is England's all-time record goalscorer (Image: Getty)

"With the way the season is going as a team with Bayern Munich [unbeaten in all 17 matches across all competitions], it looks like we're in great shape. It looks like we're one of the favourites for the Champions League, for sure.

"So that maybe makes the odds a little bit more in my favour. Same with England. I think we're going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites."

Kane has already scored 23 goals in all competitions for Bayern this season, with the arrival of Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson meaning he has been shifted into an attacking midfield role on occasion and affect the game in different ways.

Since 2020, every men's Ballon d'Or winner has won either the Champions League or the World Cup in the previous calendar year - with the exception of Rodri in 2024.

For the women's award, Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati scooped the 2025 award having not won either the Champions League or Euro 2025, but was named as the best player in both tournaments and lifted a domestic treble with Barca.