'Anything is possible' - Harry Kane is first England player to win Ballon d'Or in 25 years

England's Harry Kane has ended a 25-year wait to win the Ballon d'Or trophy.

The Ballon d'Or is football's top prize, awarded to the best male and female player of the year chosen by an international panel of judges.

Harry Kane, who plays for Bayern Munich, said "anything is possible" after accepting his award.

Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d'Or Feminin for the third time. She signed with English club London City earlier this year.

Kane beat close contender Kylian Mbappé, who had set a record at this year's World Cup, to win the award.

England manager Thomas Tuchel called Harry's success a "huge honour", and Prince William called him a "remarkable player".

"Not many people would have thought it, and maybe even I wouldn't have thought I'd be this far," Kane told Dazn after receiving football's top award.

"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."

Harry Kane won despite England not making the World Cup final, and Bayern only reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.

So what did Kane do to make him the top player in the world?

He scored 61 goals in 51 matches, the most a Bayern player has ever struck in a single campaign.

This made him the top scorer in Germany's football league with 36 goals - 17 more than anyone else.

And he set the record for the number of goals scored by a single player in a season for Bayern.

On top of this, Kane scored 12 goals for England last season, including six in the World Cup.

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.

Former England striker Alan Shearer recently told BBC Sport: "The winner of the Ballon d'Or should be Harry Kane.

"His numbers for the last 12 to 18 months have been absolutely sensational for Bayern and for England. For that reason, he should get it."

This is the Ballon d'Or's 70th year, and players from the United Kingdom have won the award seven times in total - including Kane.

He is now the fifth Englishman to win, following Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton and double winner Kevin Keegan.

Scotland's Denis Law and Northern Ireland's George Best are also historic winners from the United Kingdom.