Harry Kane’s first football club celebrates Ballon d’Or win

The chairman of the football club that Harry Kane played for as a boy has said they are proud of his “hard work” after the England captain won the Ballon d’Or.

Ian Marshall, chairman of Ridgeway Rovers FC in Walthamstow, where Kane played as a youth, said he was welling up during the awards, adding: “I know how hard he’s worked to get it, and I know what he’s had to go through from the beginning.”

The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker was crowned the world’s best male football player and men’s striker of the year at the awards on Monday night.

Alex Welsh, former academy coach at Arsenal, said he was “ecstatic” Kane had won the award, which he described as “fully deserved”.

“Harry has certainly reached the levels that we could never have foreseen all those years ago,” Welsh said.

“The great thing about Harry is he’s never forgotten where it all began, here at the Peter May Sports Centre.”

The centre is home to Ridgeway Rovers FC and next door to The Arsenal Football Club Youth Academy. It is also home to a Harry Kane statue.