Harry Kane wins the Ballon d'Or, ending England's 25-year wait

Harry Kane has won the men's Ballon d'Or, the award for the world's best player. It is the first time he has won it, and it ends a 25-year wait for England to produce a winner.

The Ballon d'Or is given each year by the French magazine France Football. Kane, a striker for Bayern Munich, became the first player to win two individual awards in one night at the ceremony, according to Times of India. A striker is the player whose main job is to score goals.

The win caps a run of scoring that has been hard to ignore. BBC Sport reported that Kane scored 73 goals last season for club and country combined. That is a lot of goals in one season, even for a player known for them.

The change in Kane's game has been a talking point for some time. In August, he told BBC Sport's football tactics correspondent Umir Irfan how he had evolved in recent seasons to become a more prolific goalscorer. Kane has often been seen as a player who drops deep and helps build play, a style sometimes called a false nine, meaning a centre-forward who drifts into midfield. Kane's own account focused on becoming more of a finisher.

For England fans, the moment carries weight beyond one player. Their country had waited a quarter of a century for a Ballon d'Or winner. Kane is the one who ended it.

Bayern Munich, the club he plays for, now have a Ballon d'Or winner in their squad. The award has never been decided by club loyalty, though. It is decided by a panel of journalists who vote on the whole season, across club and country.

For the casual fan, the simplest way to read this is this: the best player in the world, judged by a panel, is an Englishman who spent years being called one of the best strikers without a trophy to prove it. Now he has one.