Harry Kane became the first Tottenham academy graduate to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday night, and the first words that mattered from the London Palladium stage were not about Bayern Munich or England. They were about the club he left in 2023 without a trophy.
“I want to say thank you to Tottenham Hotspur, as well. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Tottenham, for sure,” Kane said during his acceptance speech. He went on to acknowledge the Spurs coaches who shaped him from the age of 11.
Tottenham replied within hours. The club built its tribute around three words: “One of our Own.” The accompanying statement called Kane their all-time leading goalscorer and traced his path from the academy to the first team.
“Harry went from being a boy to a man in N17 and became a Spurs legend. Forever One of our Own,” the club wrote.
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280 goals, no silverware
The numbers are the backdrop. Kane scored 280 goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham before moving to Bayern Munich in 2023, the Sunday Guardian noted in its own look back at his Spurs career. None of those years produced a trophy at club level.
The silverware came only after he left. Kane broke his drought in Munich, and the ultimate individual prize has now followed.
The first Englishman in 25 years
Kane is also the first English winner of the men’s Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001, according to Goal. It is a 25-year gap closed by a player whose entire youth development took place in N17.
In his speech he thanked a long list of Spurs coaches by name, from his academy days through to the first team.
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“I was there from 11 years old. All the guidance, the coaches, you allowed me to live my dream,” he said of the club.
Spurs captioned their social-media infographic simply: “The 2026 Men’s Ballon d’Or winner. Congratulations, Harry.”
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