Harry Kane expects to be in the running to win the Ballon d'Or this year, particularly if he can lead England to World Cup glory.

Kane's third season with Bayern Munich was his best yet, as he plundered a remarkable 61 goals in 51 appearances following the end of the 2025 Club World Cup.

That staggering tally was 19 more than any other player from Europe's top five leagues, with Kylian Mbappe netting 42 times, while it came from a total expected goals (xG) figure of 44.46.

Kane's xG overperformance of +16.64 was more than double the next-best among players from Europe's big five leagues, with Antoine Semenyo outperforming his xG by +7.25.

While Bayern fell short in the Champions League, losing to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, they did win a second successive Bundesliga title and beat Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal final to make it a domestic double.

Kane's attention now turns to his third World Cup, with Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions opening their Group L campaign against Croatia on June 17.

Asked in an interview with L'Equipe whether World Cup glory would make him the Ballon d'Or favourite, Kane said: "I'd probably say I'll be up there, for sure.

"With the season I've had, with winning the trophies and the numbers I've reached, I think I'll be in that conversation.

"If I win the World Cup on top of that... you would imagine it would be one of the England players. 

"When you look at some of the past winners of the Ballon d'Or, for sure it comes down to the big games, the big tournaments, and you add that on top of what I've achieved this year, I think I'll be up there."

Of the last seven editions of the Ballon d'Or awarded in a World Cup year (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022-23), four have gone to a player that lifted the trophy in that campaign – Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Ronaldo Nazario in 2002, Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and Lionel Messi in 2022-23, while the 2018 award went to a World Cup runner-up in Luka Modric.

Four different English players have won the Ballon d'Or, with only France (five), Germany and Italy (four each) providing more unique winners of the award.

Michael Owen was the most recent English winner in 2001, with Kevin Keegan previously claiming it in 1978 and 1979, Bobby Charlton being crowned in 1966 after helping England win the World Cup, and Stanley Matthews winning the inaugural 1956 award. 

Kane's Bayern team-mate Michael Olise is also expected to be in the conversation, as are a series of PSG players after they retained their European crown.

"When you look at who the current favourites are to win the Ballon d'Or, there is Michael, some of the players who were Champions League finalists, and me," Kane added.

"So it's been an incredible season, but I'm not the type of guy who wants to say I deserve the Ballon d'Or. I try and do my talking on the pitch."