Harry Kane has become the first English player to win the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001 after being crowned the world’s best player at a ceremony in London.
The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the fifth Englishman to win in total, with Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) the others.
Denis Law of Scotland (1964) and Northern Ireland’s George Best (1968) are the other winners from the United Kingdom.
Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal completed the top three.
“Not many people would have thought it, and maybe even I wouldn’t have thought I’d be this far,” Kane told Dazn.
“I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now.
“I had to bide my time and work hard, a lot of times it was me against my own mind and I had to come through it, I had to show self-belief, determination.
“I think that grounded me even when I did make it at the highest level to keep improving and keep getting better.”
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he was “delighted” to see Kane win the award as he hailed the forward’s success as a “huge honour”.
Prince William, meanwhile, said the former Tottenham Hotspur player was a “brilliant captain” and “remarkable player”.
Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches last season, the most a Bayern player has ever struck in one campaign. Including England matches, it was 73 goals – plus eight assists – in 65 matches.
Only one player at a club in Europe’s top five leagues has ever scored more goals in a season.
But he wins it despite not lifting either of football’s biggest prizes last season, having lost in both the World Cup and Champions League semi-finals.
Remarkably the Three Lions captain becomes the first Bayern player to win the Ballon d’Or since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.
To celebrate Kane’s success, the Wembley arches were lit up in gold on Monday night.
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