r/soccer • • 2h ago

Throwback Harry Kane is the first goalkeeper to win the Ballon D’or since Lev Yashin in 1963!

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4.1k Upvotes

Obviously he is not a goalkeeper lol


r/soccer • • 1h ago

News China's state broadcaster suspends all La Liga broadcasts and removes ads featuring Kylian Mbappé

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• Upvotes

Translation of the article:

According to The Paper, China Media Group (CMG), China's state broadcaster, has confirmed that CCTV stopped broadcasting La Liga matches and advertisements involving Kylian Mbappé starting last night, citing what it described as Mbappé's seriously negative conduct concerning China.

The report does not specify how long the suspension will last.


r/soccer • • 4h ago

News Chinese brands Dongpeng and Mengniu cancel sponsorship of Mbappé after he called Mao Zedong a dictator while discussing a meme.

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3.2k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 8h ago

News Allianz Arena is celebrating Harry Kane's Ballon D'or win with Golden colours.

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6.5k Upvotes

Munich is Golden tonight.


r/soccer • • 3h ago

Stats [Statsdufoot] Harry Kane is the only player among the Ballon d'Or winners over the past 30 years who has never won an international competition, either with his club or the national team.

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792 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 8h ago

Media Harry Kane celebrates the Ballon d’Or with fans outside the London Palladium

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3.6k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 2h ago

Stats Those numbers for Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane!

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250 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 7h ago

Media The Wembley Stadium is celebrating Harry Kane’s Ballon D’or win.

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618 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 7h ago

Media Thomas Müller‘s response to Harry Kane winning the Ballon d‘Or

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1.5k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 11h ago

Stats Harry Kane became the first English Ballon d'Or winner since 2001. He joins previous English recipients Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, and Michael Owen in history.

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7.4k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 10h ago

Media [Tottenham Hotspur] tribute video for Harry Kane winning the Ballon D’or: A legacy built in the Spurs academy. Forever one of our own

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3.4k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 5h ago

Media Multiple Chinese companies announce suspension of partnerships with Kylian Mbappé after his comment on the Chinese dictator meme

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927 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 10h ago

Media Harry Kane on his Instagram right after winning the Ballon d’Or

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24.2k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 10h ago

Stats FC Bayern have a Ballon d’Or winner after 45 years

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1.9k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 10h ago

News The two Ballon D'Or winners 2026, Alexia Putellas and Harry Kane

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11.0k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 7h ago

News [ESPN]The Glazer family is waiting for the “right time,” with two cited triggers being: - A new Old Trafford stadium (which would lift the club’s value) - Manchester City being expelled from the Premier League and thus a powerful rival no longer competing for major honors.

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393 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 3h ago

Quotes J.Félix, the only Spanish journalist who voted for the BdO "The WC success should have been more widely recognized, but at least De la Fuente and Simón represented Spanish football. The problem was that the vote for Spaniards was spread out and there wasn't a Spanish player who stood out at the WC"

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173 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 11h ago

Official Source Alexia Putellas is the 2026 Ballon d'Or winner.

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2.0k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 11h ago

News Harry Kane wins men’s striker of the year at the Balon D’Or ceremony

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1.5k Upvotes

r/soccer • • 9h ago

Media Vincent Garcia (France Football editor-in-chief): "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."

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476 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 10h ago

Opinion Piece Retracing Harry Kane’s journey in a day, from a London park to the Ballon d’Or

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261 Upvotes

Harry Kane is the best English player of his generation — his country’s all-time leading scorer, joint-most capped player, and winner of the World Cup Golden Boot.

He is Tottenham Hotspur’s all-time leading scorer, has scored the second-most goals in Premier League history, and is the fastest ever player to reach 100 Bundesliga goals.

This is how a child from Chingford, released by Arsenal as a child, became the world's best player — the winner of the Ballon d'Or.


r/soccer • • 11h ago

Media Harry Kane announced as the winner of the 2026 Ballon d'Or

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53.7k Upvotes

2026


r/soccer • • 10h ago

OC Three of the last five first-time Ballon d'Or winners have been 30+. There were no 30+ first-time winners from 1963-2003.

198 Upvotes

I was interested to see that in recent years a number of footballers over 30 have won the Ballon d'Or for the first time: Modric, Benzema, and now Kane. Also, Lewandowski was 32 in 2020.

It really goes to show how improvements in sports science have led to players not only continuing to play at a high level well into their 30s but essentially peaking then!

Obviously Ronaldo and Messi dominated the award for years, but none of those four came in second or third before they won it, so they specifically weren't blocked by Ronaldo or Messi.

So I decided to look into the ages of winners, and 30+ first-time winners were much more rare before the 2000s:

  • 2026 Harry Kane (33)
  • 2022 Karim Benzema (34)
  • 2020 Robert Lewandowski (32)*
  • 2018 Luka Modric (33)
  • 2006 Fabio Cannavaro (33)
  • 2003 Pavel Nedved (31)
  • 1963 Lev Yashin (32)
  • 1962 Josef Masopust (30)
  • 1957 Alfredo Di Stefano (31)
  • 1956 Sir Stanley Matthews (41) - first Ballon d'Or awarded

It's interesting to see that four of the first seven winners were over 30. Presumably Matthews and Di Stefano would've won in their 20s if the Ballon D'Or existed then, but I wonder if there were more older players in the professional game in that era. Maybe since pay wasn't as high as it is now, they played longer to earn a more reliable income.

There have been five others who won additional Ballon d'Ors over 30 (Messi 3/8, Ronaldo 2/5, Di Stefano 2/2, Platini 1/3, Beckenbauer 1/2), but, other than Di Stefano, they had all first won in their 20s.


r/soccer • • 11h ago

News Charlyn Corral wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or Women's Striker of the Year award

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298 Upvotes

r/soccer • • 11h ago

Media Archie Brown speaks after Galatasaray & Fenerbahçe's post match brawl "I seen the captain pull the hair of Matteo [Guendouzi] and I so defended him. It's what they do in Gala, they scratch people and pull hair, like women"

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446 Upvotes