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England and Bayern Munich football superstar Harry Kane expressed his happiness at winning his first-ever Ballon d'Or title, expressing how he is "still taking it all in" and how he likes "working behind the scenes and let everything explode on the pitch".
Kane became the first English player to win the Ballon dOr since Michael Owen in 2001, overcoming competition from Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to claim the prestigious individual football award. Kane enjoyed a prolific campaign, scoring 73 goals and providing eight assists, contributing to 81 goal involvements across the season. He also helped Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga, German Cup and German Super Cup. It is the first Ballon d'Or for a player who has been considered among the world's best for several years. Speaking to Sky Sports, "Sounds crazy, to be honest, but sounds pretty good. So, what a special night, incredible, incredible feeling. Still just trying to take it all in, really, and um, but yeah, it just feels, feels really, really like a dream." On waiting for the name of the winner to be revealed and finding himself to be the winner of the most prestigious individual honour in the sport, Harry said, "Yeah, the emotion, just relief, joy, happiness, excitement. So much waiting to find out the winner, and in that moment, it was quite nerve-racking. So to have that kind of relief, and then be able to share it with everyone there in the theater was special." Following his win, Harry posted a quote on social media, saying, "Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise." Reflecting on his life as a footballer, which has included loan moves to teams placed in the second tier of English football, an individually productive but trophyless 14-year stint with Tottenham Hotspur to now winning individual and team honours alike with German giants Bayern Munich, Harry said on his post, "It is a quote that I have kind of lived by for a lot of my career, and I think it sums up my story, you know? I like to do the work behind the scenes. Sometimes when no one's watching is the, the best time to improve and, um, you know, let, let everything else just, uh, you know, explode on the pitch, and, um, you know, this is no perfect, uh, no better way to kind of prove that than, uh, winning this award." The prestigious title comes after Kane dominated the Bundesliga, scoring 36 goals in 31 matches to help Bayern Munich to the 2025-26 German league title. Bayern fell in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League to eventual winner Paris Saint-Germain, but Kane also had 14 goals in 13 matches - including at least one goal in both legs of the quarterfinals against Real Madrid and the semifinals against PSG. The England captain also scored six goals and chipped in an assist for England as the Three Lions earned a third-place finish at the 2026 World Cup. (ANI)
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