Harry Kane voted Germany's 2026 footballer of the year, first English winner
Harry Kane has been voted Germany’s footballer of the year for 2026, becoming the first English player to win the honour in the Kicker magazine poll of German sports journalists.
Kane scored 61 goals in all competitions for Bayern Munich last season as the club completed a league and cup double and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League; he has also finished as the Bundesliga’s top scorer in each of his three seasons at Bayern. The 33-year-old also netted six goals as England reached the World Cup semi-finals before losing to Argentina.
The award is organised by Kicker and decided by members of the Association of German Sports Journalists, with 695 journalists eligible to vote and Bundesliga players or German players playing abroad allowed to win. Kane received 272 votes in the poll, while Bayern team-mate Michael Olise finished second with 203 votes; Olise had also been runner-up in 2025 behind Florian Wirtz.
Bayern sporting director Max Eberl commented on the award, saying: "It's almost impossible to find the right superlatives to describe Harry Kane - sometimes I'm at a loss for words," and adding, "He's already been named England's Footballer of the Year, and now he's also won it in Germany." The England captain is cited among the favourites for the 2026 Ballon d'Or, which will be awarded in London in October, and the reporting noted that if he wins he would join Kevin Keegan as an English recipient while representing a German club.
Bayern manager Vincent Kompany was named coach of the year in the same awards, and women's captain Giulia Gwinn won the best female player prize. Gwinn had shared the women's award in the previous year with Ann-Katrin Berger and this year finished clear of her teammate Klara Bühl.
Kane received the 2026 Golden Shoe on Wednesday for being the top scorer across Europe's top leagues last season, and he featured as Bayern began their season with silverware on Saturday by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the German Super Cup.
Kane and Kompany will be formally honoured on Friday at Bayern's Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz Arena.
