Guti makes 'coincidence' claim about Ballon d'Or as he points out Harry Kane's immediate reaction to winning award

Guti has questioned the legitimacy of this year's Ballon d'Or result, describing it as an "incredible coincidence" that Harry Kane won the award after the ceremony was moved from Paris to London.

The former Real Madrid and Spain midfielder watched on as Kane beat Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to lift football's biggest individual prize.

Kane was the odds-on favourite for good reason. He finished the 2025-26 season with 73 goals for club and country, a record only surpassed by Lionel Messi, who netted 82 goals across the 2011-12 campaign.

READ MORE: France Football chief reveals how close Ballon d'Or race was between Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe

Despite his output, former Real Madrid and Spain midfielder Guti remains unconvinced. Speaking on El Chiringuito after the winner was announced, he made his feelings abundantly clear.

“It just so happens that, for the 70th anniversary, they move the ceremony to London and someone from London wins it," he said. "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…”

A fellow El Chiringuito pundit proceeded to say the word "orchestrated", to which Guti replied: “Completely. Absolutely. That's what I think, and it's what I've thought about this award for a long time."

Harry Kane's immediate reaction to winning Ballon d'Or. Image credit: France Football

Guti also mentioned Kane's immediate reaction to winning the award. "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."

The former Real Madrid midfielder proceeded to bring up Kane's reaction again, adding: “I think he expected both Lamine Yamal and Mbappe to finish ahead of him. You only have to look at his face.”

Vincent Garcia says Kylian Mbappe led Ballon d'Or race for 'a long time'

The Ballon d'Or race was certainly a close one. After the ceremony, France Football editor-in-chief Vincent Garcia revealed how close the points gap was between Kane and Mbappe.

“This year, there were several serious contenders," he began. "The two closest were the top two, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, and the race between them was decided by very little," he said.

"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."

He added: "It was incredibly close. 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."