Harry Kane Named Germany’s Player of the Year
BERLIN — Harry Kane’s first full chapter in German football has its headline now: Germany’s player of the year.
The Bayern Munich striker was voted the country’s standout footballer for 2026 after a devastating season in front of goal, while Vincent Kompany collected the coach of the year award to complete a Bayern double in the annual poll.
Kane’s numbers were brutal. Sixty-one goals in all competitions, including the German Supercup, as Bayern retained their Bundesliga crown and added the German Cup. In the cup final, he didn’t just turn up — he took over, hitting a hat trick to drag the Bavarians over the line and put another trophy in the cabinet.
The new campaign has already started with more silverware. On Saturday, Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 to lift the German Supercup again. Kane didn’t score this time, but his presence and movement still anchored the attack as Bayern edged their great rivals on Dortmund’s own turf.
The scale of his impact showed in the voting.
In the annual poll run by Kicker magazine and the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS), Kane collected 272 votes from 659 journalists. That put him comfortably ahead of Bayern teammate Michael Olise, who finished second with 203.
- Deniz Undav picked up 61 votes
- Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich next on 21
- Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann on 14
Kicker reported three invalid ballots.
On the touchline, Kompany’s work was rewarded just as emphatically.
The Belgian received nearly half of all votes cast for coach of the year, finishing clearly ahead of Freiburg’s Julian Schuster, last year’s winner. Kompany’s Bayern side combined control with cutting edge, defending the league title and sweeping up domestic cups to reassert their authority in Germany.
Florian Wirtz had taken the player’s prize last year, a symbol of Leverkusen’s surge. This time, the spotlight swung back to Munich.
Awards History
The awards themselves carry history. Germany’s player of the year has been chosen since 1960, with the coaching honor added in 2002. Franz Beckenbauer still stands alone in the player category with four titles, while Jürgen Klopp and Felix Magath share the coaching benchmark with three wins each.
Kane and Kompany have now written their names into that lineage. The question is simple: how long do they plan on staying there?
