United States men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has backed Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or next month.
Pochettino said it is Kane’s turn to take the individual prize and that the England forward deserves it in the way Luka Modrić, Fabio Cannavaro and Karim Benzema did in their years. Kane scored 61 goals in 51 matches for Bayern last season as Vincent Kompany’s side won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. He added six goals as England finished third at the 2026 World Cup.
Speaking to ESPN he said: “My wish, I hope yes [he wins it]. I think he deserves it as the reward for his career and for all that he has done in football. I don’t know if he is going to be punished for the World Cup or the Champions League because he played in both semifinals.
Maybe he will be punished, I don’t know, but, for me, it’s Harry Kane’s time. He deserves it in his career like Modrić or Cannavaro, Benzema. I think if I pick one, then it’s Harry Kane.”
The case Pochettino makes is a career case, not only a six-month case. Kane’s club numbers are enormous; his international summer ended in a semi-final rather than a trophy. Ballon d’Or juries have often treated a Champions League or World Cup title as the last lock. Pochettino names that risk—“punished” for stopping one round short—and still picks Kane, placing him with winners who were rewarded for a body of work as much as for a single final.
A coach’s wish is not a ballot. It does add a clear vote of prestige from someone who has managed at the top of the Premier League and now runs a national side. Whether the panel shares that reading will be settled in October.
Until then Kane’s file is 61 club goals, two domestic German trophies, a World Cup third place—and a public argument that the award can go to a striker who reached the last four twice and still filled the net all year.
