Harry Kane first brought the Ballon d'Or to Bayern Munich as the first player since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981, then signed a new contract with the German record champions that allegedly brings him the highest salary in European football. However, the player union Fifpro did not select the Englishman in the eleven best players of the year.

This selection came as a surprise: World footballer Harry Kane failed to make the world selection chosen by a total of 19,806 professionals from the global player union Fifpro - despite four forwards being represented.

In the voting for the attacking line, Kylian Mbappé from Real Madrid received the largest share of votes at 46 percent, while 37.4 percent of professionals voted for Lamine Yamal from Barcelona - behind that it becomes surprising. Veteran Lionel Messi was selected for the top eleven by 29.5 percent of those voting. This placed the Argentine, now playing in the United States, ahead of Erling Haaland at 28.4 percent from Manchester City and Kane at 27.6 percent, who narrowly missed out as fifth place.

David Raya from Arsenal stands in goal, with a defensive three-man line formed by Pau Cubarsí from Barcelona, Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, both from Paris Saint-Germain. Three professionals are also represented in midfield. The selection fell on Jude Bellingham from Real Madrid, Rodri from Manchester City and Vitinha from Paris Saint-Germain.

Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and others come away empty-handed

German players or players from German clubs thus missed out on making the selection.

Kane himself, however, is unlikely to be too disappointed, as the significantly more prestigious award as world footballer serves as a nice consolation prize. Most recently, the 33-year-old emphasized that he doesn't really need all the fuss surrounding his person.

Kane emphasized recently that so much has been spoken about him, the Ballon d'Or or individual trophies, and that he now looks forward to getting back to work, talking less and playing more, underscoring that he is far from having enough of the supposedly mundane everyday business of football. Kane stated that he doesn't necessarily need all this attention.