Harry Kane narrowly beats Lamine Yamal to little-known award ahead of Ballon d'Or

Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane has been crowned the winner of the ‘100 MARCA’ award, just days before this month's Ballon d'Or ceremony in London.

The 100 MARCA is an annual football award organised by Spanish newspaper MARCA that ranks the 100 best footballers in the world based on their performances over the previous season.

The award is decided by a jury of international journalists, former footballers and coaches. In total, 226 voters picked their top 15 from among the 100 nominees, with 30 points for first place, 25 for second, and 23 for third.

READ MORE: Why Harry Kane was famously released by Arsenal

This year, Harry Kane has done enough to secure the trophy, joining Karim Benzema (2021-22), Erling Haaland (2022-23), Vinicius Jr (2023-24) and Lamine Yamal (2024-25) on the list of winners.

He finished on 3,962 points, which was just 25 points more than Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal (3,937).

Yamal finished in second place. Image credit: Getty

Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, finished third on 3,440 points ahead of Rodri, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lionel Messi, Fabian Ruiz, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and Pau Cubasi.

Harry Kane admits Ballon d'Or wait is 'very stressful'

Kane, who scored 73 goals in 65 games between August 2025 and July 2026, is one of the favourites to take home the Ballon d'Or, which will be handed out at a ceremony in London on Monday (October 26).

Speaking ahead of the event, Kane has opened up on his feelings before the big night.

Asked whether he would prefer to be told in advance of the ceremony, Kane said: “I think my wife would prefer to know and my family … it’s very stressful for everyone.

“I can see why they don’t tell people. They want everyone to go, all the big names, and there will be more people watching it if they don’t know so I can understand why.

“From my point of view, of course I’d love to know to just kind of see and not have to wait throughout the whole night. But it is their decision, I can’t control that. We’ll have to just enjoy it and try not to stress out too much."

Kane added: "I try not to think about it. Obviously it is hard not to. There are always rumours and stuff flying around so you try to stay away from it.”