Harry Kane Named Germany's Footballer of the Year — First Englishman to Win It
Harry Kane has been voted Germany's Footballer of the Year for 2026, becoming the first English player to receive the honour in the award's history.
The prize, organised by Kicker magazine, was decided by 695 members of the German sports journalists' association. Bundesliga players and German players based abroad are eligible. Kane received 272 votes to finish ahead of his Bayern Munich teammate Michael Olise, who collected 203. Olise was runner-up for the second year running, having finished second to Florian Wirtz in 2025 (BBC Sport).
According to Kicker, Kane scored 73 goals for club and country combined during the period under review — a tally that placed him at the top of the ballot (Kicker).
The recognition has been stacking up for the 33-year-old this week. On Wednesday, he received the 2026 Golden Shoe — the award for the top scorer across Europe's top leagues last season. Bayern then opened their 2026-27 campaign by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the German Super Cup on Saturday. Kane and Bayern manager Vincent Kompany were to be formally honoured at the club's Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz Arena on Friday (BBC Sport).
Kompany was named Germany's coach of the year in the same Kicker awards. Bayern women's captain Giulia Gwinn took the prize for best female player (Kicker).
Bayern sporting director Max Eberl was effusive in his assessment. "It's almost impossible to find the right superlatives to describe Harry Kane," he said, noting that the striker had already been named England's Footballer of the Year — a domestic honour — earlier in the year (BBC Sport).
Kane is now among the favourites to win the 2026 Ballon d'Or, the individual prize widely regarded as football's highest, which will be awarded in London in October. If he wins it, he would become the second English player to receive the honour while representing a German club. The first was Kevin Keegan, who won in 1978 and 1979 while playing for Hamburg — a detail that places Kane's achievement in the company of a genuine English football icon (BBC Sport).
For a player who left Tottenham in 2023 with the Premier League's all-time Golden Boots record but no team trophy to show for his finishing, the arc is striking. In Munich, the goals have kept coming — and the individual honours have followed.
What stands out is the breadth of the recognition. Voted best in Germany by the country's own journalists, top scorer across the continent, and now a serious contender for the sport's biggest individual prize — Kane's 2026 is shaping into a season where the numbers are impossible to ignore.
