Harry Kane has become the first English player to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001 after being crowned the world's best player at a ceremony in London.
The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the fifth Englishman to win in total, with Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) the others.
Denis Law of Scotland (1964) and Northern Ireland's George Best (1968) are the other winners from the United Kingdom.
Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal completed the top three.
"Not many people would have thought it, and maybe even I wouldn't have thought I'd be this far," Kane told Dazn.
"I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now.
"I had to bide my time and work hard, a lot of times it was me against my own mind and I had to come through it, I had to show self-belief, determination.
"I think that grounded me even when I did make it at the highest level to keep improving and keep getting better."
In terms of trophies, Kane may have 'only' lifted the German double last season.
But that more than doubled his career trophy total - having also won the Bundesliga the season before.
But in terms of individual output Kane - whose previous best Ballon d'Or finish was 10th - was unmatched last season.
His 61 goals in all competitions for Bayern was 19 more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues managed.
In fact it was the most anyone has recorded since Cristiano Ronaldo also notched 61 for Real Madrid 11 years ago.
He was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals - 17 clear of anyone else. In the Champions League he scored 14 for the beaten semi-finalists.
In the German Cup he scored 10 goals, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart in the final, and he also netted once in the German Super Cup.
No player has ever scored so many goals in a season for Bayern, a club who have had legendary goalscorers like Gerd Muller, Rummenigge and more recently Robert Lewandowski in their ranks.
Kane's 12 goals for England last season - including six at the World Cup - take him up to a total of 73.
Only one player in history from Europe's top leagues has scored more in a season, Lionel Messi's 82 for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12.
Next on the list are Muller (72 in 1972-73), Cristiano Ronaldo (66 in both 2011-12 and 2014-15), former Brazil striker Ronaldo (66 in 1996-97), Erling Haaland (64 in 2022-23) and Luis Suarez (64 in 2015-16).
The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the fifth Englishman to win in total, with Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) the others.
Denis Law of Scotland (1964) and Northern Ireland's George Best (1968) are the other winners from the United Kingdom.
Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe finished second, while Barcelona and Spain attacker Lamine Yamal completed the top three.
"Not many people would have thought it, and maybe even I wouldn't have thought I'd be this far," Kane told Dazn.
"I had to go through many ups and downs, especially early in my career. I was never the person that people thought was going to be the superstar like some of the guys now.
"I had to bide my time and work hard, a lot of times it was me against my own mind and I had to come through it, I had to show self-belief, determination.
"I think that grounded me even when I did make it at the highest level to keep improving and keep getting better."
In terms of trophies, Kane may have 'only' lifted the German double last season.
But that more than doubled his career trophy total - having also won the Bundesliga the season before.
But in terms of individual output Kane - whose previous best Ballon d'Or finish was 10th - was unmatched last season.
His 61 goals in all competitions for Bayern was 19 more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues managed.
In fact it was the most anyone has recorded since Cristiano Ronaldo also notched 61 for Real Madrid 11 years ago.
He was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals - 17 clear of anyone else. In the Champions League he scored 14 for the beaten semi-finalists.
In the German Cup he scored 10 goals, including a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart in the final, and he also netted once in the German Super Cup.
No player has ever scored so many goals in a season for Bayern, a club who have had legendary goalscorers like Gerd Muller, Rummenigge and more recently Robert Lewandowski in their ranks.
Kane's 12 goals for England last season - including six at the World Cup - take him up to a total of 73.
Only one player in history from Europe's top leagues has scored more in a season, Lionel Messi's 82 for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12.
Next on the list are Muller (72 in 1972-73), Cristiano Ronaldo (66 in both 2011-12 and 2014-15), former Brazil striker Ronaldo (66 in 1996-97), Erling Haaland (64 in 2022-23) and Luis Suarez (64 in 2015-16).
