Spanish football is not taking Kane’s crowning quietly. Within a day of the Bayern Munich striker lifting the Ballon d’Or on Monday 26 October, Guti told a Spanish TV panel the result had been fixed in Kane’s favour, and he was the second prominent Spanish voice to reject it inside 24 hours.

Guti kept circling back to the venue change as the giveaway.

“It just so happens that, for the 70th anniversary, they move the ceremony to London and someone from London wins it,” Guti said on El Chiringuito, according to SportBible.

When a fellow panellist used the word “orchestrated”, Guti picked it up without hesitation.

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“Completely. Absolutely. That’s what I think, and it’s what I’ve thought about this award for a long time.”

France Football admits a razor-thin margin

The man in charge of the voting has already acknowledged that Kane’s win was anything but comfortable. Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, said the final points gap over Mbappé was even smaller than the 41-point margin that separated Rodri from Vinícius Júnior in 2024, and that Mbappé led the count for most of the cycle before Kane overtook him in the closing stages.

Garcia also argued that Spain’s own ballot fragmented between Rodri and Lamine Yamal, which cost both and opened the door for Kane. Guti’s version is simpler: he thinks the venue decided it.

Spain’s only voter did not pick Kane

Guti is not alone in his scepticism. José Félix Díaz, managing editor of Spanish daily AS and the only Spanish journalist on the Ballon d’Or voting panel, has publicly rejected Kane as the right choice.

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“I was expecting Mbappé or Lamine Yamal because Harry Kane lacks something,” Díaz said.

Nine of Díaz’s ten votes landed inside the final top ten, and four went to Spanish players.

Guti points to Kane’s shocked face

Guti returned repeatedly to the moment Kane heard his own name. In his reading, the striker’s expression was the clearest proof that even the winner did not expect it.

“When I saw the look on his face when they announced Harry Kane, he never in his life thought he was going to win it.”

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Kane scored 73 goals in all competitions during the 2025-26 season and finished as the Bundesliga’s top scorer for a third season running, with 14 Champions League goals as Bayern reached the semi-finals. He is the first Englishman to win the men’s Ballon d’Or in 25 years.

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