Can Kane buck history and win Ballon d'Or?

With the Ballon d'Or shortlist to be announced on Tuesday, Harry Kane heads the field as the bookmakers' favourite after a prolific season for club and country. History, however, suggests football's biggest individual prize is rarely decided on goals alone.

Since the Ballon d'Or was first awarded in 1956, performances in the game's biggest competitions have consistently shaped the outcome.

World Cup years, in particular, have followed a remarkably clear pattern and recent editions have shown just how difficult it is to win the award without lifting a major global or continental tournament.

Once the nominees are announced, an international jury of specialised journalists will cast their votes, with one representative per country from the men's top 100 having their say.

So, can Kane, who has never finished higher than 10th in the battle to be the world's best player, become one of the rare exceptions?

73 goals from dropping deep - we ask Kane to break down how he did it

Created by France Football journalist Gabriel Hanot, the Ballon d'Or was first presented in 1956, with England's Sir Stanley Matthews the inaugural winner. Originally voted for by journalists, the award was restricted to European players until eligibility was expanded to all nationalities in 1995.

Raymond Kopa became the first Ballon d'Or winner in a World Cup year after helping France reach the 1958 semi-finals. To mark the award's 60th anniversary in 2016, France Football revisited every pre-1995 edition , external . Its retrospective review concluded Pele would have claimed the award after inspiring Brazil to their first World Cup triumph at the age of 17.