Bayern Munich striker, Harry Kane, and London City Lionesses and Spain star Alexia Putellas on Monday claimed the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or awards at the event held at the London Palladium Theatre in London, England.
Kane becomes England’s first Ballon d’Or winner in 25 years.
He piped Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to the most prestigious individual award in football.
On her part, Putellas won the quadruple with Barcelona last season before leaving to join the WSL side over the summer.
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Putellas has thanked her former Barcelona team-mates and head coach Pere Romeu, who won the award for Women’s Coach of the Year earlier this evening.
“I want to say this prize is for Barcelona,” Putellas said on stage.
She scored 26 goals and registered 15 assists in 53 matches.
Meanwhile, Luis de la Fuente won the Ballon d’Or for men’s coach of the year after leading Spain to World Cup glory.
“Teamwork makes us invincible. This is a great honour,” de la Fuente said after collecting the award at a ceremony in London.
“The secret is to work with very generous players that put the team first. We’ve got such an amazing pool of talent, the best in the world, so as a coach I have such a great amount of talent to work with. So this is their success,” he added.
In an age of coaches who were previously star players, 65-year-old de la Fuente stands out as a technician who worked his way up through the national coaching ranks in Spain.
The women’s coaching award was awarded to Barcelona’s Pere Romeu for masterminding a season in which they won the Spanish league, Spanish cup, Super Cup and Champions League.
Other award winners:
Striker of the Year – Harry Kane
Striker of the Year – Charlyn Corral
Women’s Club of the Year – Barcelona
Socrates Award for humanitarian work- Bukayo Saka
Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year – Unai Simon
Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year – Cata Coll
Women’s Young Talent of the Year- Lopez
Men’s Young Talent of the Year -Lamine Yamal