Kane, the England captain and his country’s top scorer, was among the players Bellingham beat to the fan-voted award.

“I’d like to congratulate Jude Bellingham for winning England’s Men’s Player of the Year. He had an amazing year for us, his World Cup was special,” Kane wrote in a public message.

The Football Association confirmed the result on Friday, with the winner picked by supporters through the official England app.

A record-breaking summer

Bellingham’s second straight award follows a tournament in which he was the most decisive England player on the pitch. The 23-year-old scored seven times in July at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States, a new Three Lions record at a major men’s tournament and one more than Kane’s previous mark of six.

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Braces against Mexico in the round of 16 and Norway in the quarter-final carried England into the last four, and Bellingham then rounded off the run with a solo goal deep into stoppage time of the bronze final against France as England finished third, their best World Cup return since 1966.

Thomas Tuchel, whose first tournament in charge ended in that third-place finish, called Bellingham’s role in the campaign decisive.

“I think he was one of the players of the tournament, not only for us but for the whole tournament. He lived up to his full potential; you could just see what a competitor and what a machine he is,” Tuchel said.

Fifth Englishman to retain it

Bellingham joins Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Kane and Bukayo Saka as only the fifth player to hold on to the fan-voted honour in back-to-back years.

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“It feels great. Obviously, a huge honour to be recognised by the fans again … it is obviously a beautiful little addition to the great summer we had,” Bellingham said.

Kane still in Ballon d’Or picture

Kane is among the frontrunners for the 2026 Ballon d’Or after a 73-goal season for Bayern Munich and England that also brought another Bundesliga title, the DFB-Pokal and the German Supercup. Lamine Yamal, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé are the other names most often mentioned alongside his.

Bellingham has started strongly under new Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho as well, with three goals and three assists in his opening five LaLiga matches this season.

The Ballon d’Or gala takes place in London on Monday, 26 October.

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