Bundesliga looks to Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or as German edge fades

While Philipp Lahm stresses the practical limits that have kept German players from winning the Ballon d’Or since Matthias Sammer’s 1996 triumph, Harry Kane’s recent award is being hailed as a possible catalyst for change in the Bundesliga.

Even if the hints of a smile never fully leave his face, Philipp Lahm speaks with an overriding sense of practicality. He appears to have shed the intensity of a professional athlete nearly a decade after retiring, yet the traits of a World Cup‑winning captain remain evident. Friendly and open but also serious, he was politely unflinching when the conversation turned to Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or triumph. “It helped Harry Kane and Michael Olise that they came from another country,” Lahm said four days after Kane’s big win, adding that it is quite difficult for a German player in the Bundesliga to win the Ballon d’Or.

Historical Ballon d’Or scarcity in Germany

The last Bundesliga‑based player and the last German to win the sport’s most prestigious individual award was Matthias Sammer of Borussia Dortmund in 1996. Since then a German has finished inside the Ballon d’Or top three only three times, the most recent being Manuel Neuer in 2014. Harry Kane is only the seventh Bundesliga player to rank in the top three since Sammer’s triumph.

Bayern Munich, with whom Lahm won eight Bundesliga titles, have been the division’s indisputable kings. They have lost the title just once since the 2012‑13 season, making a lack of competitiveness at the top a natural consequence of their dominance. Although this is not Bayern’s problem, a narrative of limited opportunity persists in Germany. Historically, German players have struggled to reach the peaks of the game within the country because of such circumstances, producing a range of side effects.

Kane’s move to Bayern was intended simply as the right step for a player capable of competing for the Champions League, yet three years on the club’s backers are beginning to treat him as a beacon of hope. “I do hope that the good players stay in the Bundesliga,” Lahm said, adding that through Harry Kane many others might follow because it is possible to win and play here.

Bayern’s financial pull and league ambitions

Sporting director Christoph Freund argues the case for joining Bayern is straightforward: you can win titles with us both in Germany and Europe. Bayern have won the Champions League twice in the last fourteen years, a feat matched only by Paris Saint‑Germain and surpassed by Real Madrid. The Bundesliga’s distribution of wealth heavily favours Bayern, a factor that likely played a sizable role in signing both Kane and Michael Olise. While Bayern have re‑established their foothold in Germany, the balance of financial power in European club football has shifted, with the Premier League now the league of choice because of its greater financial might. Players such as Robert Lewandowski and Mario Gotze proved themselves at other German clubs, notably Borussia Dortmund, before moving up the food chain to Bayern. Florian Wirtz’s 2025 transfer from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool exemplifies a new world order that some hope Kane’s Ballon d’Or could influence.

“It’s all about the attention, so when you’re successful with the German national team that’s visible, but then when you also succeed with Liverpool the attention in the U.K. is much bigger,” Lahm said, citing Wirtz’s hypothetical Ballon d’Or case as an example. He suggested that staying in the Bundesliga alone makes a Ballon d’Or win harder than moving abroad and succeeding.

Bayern’s executives believe the club accounts for around fifty percent of the league’s global brand value. While unapologetic about their on‑pitch strengths, they argue they are shouldering too much of the league’s heavy lifting.

Bayern executive board member Rouven Kasper pointed to Premier League clubs’ oversized presence on preseason tours as a primary example for the Bundesliga to emulate, though he questioned the league’s willingness to adopt the strategy. “The league needs to be stronger and bring more reach, but the league exists from the clubs,” Kasper said, adding that Bayern, together with other clubs and the league, must be more active in markets such as the U.K. and Spain to become more approachable.