Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe won the Ballon d’Or Gerd Muller Trophy for scoring the most goals in Europe, though Real Madrid forward Mbappe did not attend the ceremony in Paris.
England captain Kane, who joined Bayern Munich from Tottenham last summer, scored 44 goals in 45 competitive games in his first season with the German club.
Mbappe netted 44 goals in 48 appearances in his final season with Paris St-Germain.
The France forward was not at the ceremony at Paris’ Theatre du Chatelet along with the rest of his Real Madrid representatives.
According to AFP and several Spanish news outlets, Real Madrid cancelled plans to attend after hearing that Vinicius Junior would not win the men’s award.
The European champions told AFP that its delegation would not go “where it is not respected” after learning Vinicius, favourite to win the award, would not be crowned the world’s best male player.
“Thank you to my club Bayern Munich, all my staff, teammates, for helping me score all the goals I scored,” Kane said.
“It’s an honour to take this award from a club legend [Karl-Heinz Rummenigge]. It was a new chapter for me. Going to Germany, taking my family with me was a new experience, I didn’t know what to expect.
“To get off to the start I did, credit to my teammates. I went along for the ride and we had a good season.”
When ceremony co-host Didier Drogba asked Kane what area of his game he would like to improve, the England captain replied: “My speed. Although age might be catching up with me.”
