Former Bayern Munich forward Roy Makaay believes Harry Kane is rightly being mentioned among the favourites to win the Ballon d’Or this year.
After scoring 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich through the 2025/26 season and six goals for England at the World Cup, Harry Kane is widely seen as a contender to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or, which will be awarded to the world’s best footballer in October.
Bayern Munich have also been vocal in their support for Kane’s candidacy. The club’s chief marketing officer, Rouven Kasper, recently told Sky Sports that the German giants believe there is “no way around” the 33-year-old when it comes to this year’s award.
For Roy Makaay, who also spent part of his career leading the line for Bayern, it makes perfect sense for the club’s hierarchy to do everything they can to boost Kane’s chances of winning the award.
“I think it’s very good that your club supports you in this. I’ve never heard Kane speak about it himself,” Makaay said in an exclusive interview with Bulinews.com.
Makaay, who now works as the head coach of FC Bayern’s World Squad – a global project aimed at scouting and developing young talents from around the world – also sees Kane as a natural candidate for the award after his “tremendous” 2025/26 campaign.
“If he wins it, he deserves it, because the season he had was tremendous, but in football you never know. The Ballon d’Or is also a matter of taste. I think there are several players in the running, but Kane is one of the main contenders,” said the 51-year-old former Netherlands international.
“If you score as many goals for your club and country as he did, it’s very normal that people speak about you as one of the candidates. I would love for him to win it, and if he does, he would deserve it, but we’ll have to see in October.”
Makaay spoke to Bulinews.com alongside former VfB Stuttgart defender Frank Verlaat, who identified Rodri as another top candidate for the award.
As Verlaat pointed out, it could work against Kane that he won neither the Champions League nor the World Cup – unlike Rodri, who led Spain to World Cup glory and was named the tournament’s best player.
“You’ve also got a very important No. 6 in Rodri from Spain. What you see with the Ballon d’Or is that the winner has usually won a big competition like the World Cup or the Champions League. He [Kane] didn’t do that. But that doesn’t change that he had a fantastic season and scored so many goals,” Verlaat said.
A natural connection
Makaay and Verlaat spoke to Bulinews.com before a floating watch party hosted by the Bundesliga in Amsterdam in connection with Bayern Munich’s 5-1 Bundesliga opening win over VfB Stuttgart.
As part of the event, the two Bundesliga legends each boarded a boat and took to the canals of Amsterdam to watch the opener alongside fans.
The duo explained that they have followed the German top flight since they were young and see the Bundesliga as one of the most attractive leagues for football fans in the Netherlands.
“I think it’s good to bring the Bundesliga outside of Germany. I used to watch Bundesliga football with my grandfather when I was young myself. It’s a very attractive league, and we have a lot of Dutch players in the Bundesliga as well,” Makaay said.