There was once a time when it was thought that England skipper Harry Kane would end his career as a nearly man. On Tuesday night, the Englishman stood on top of the world, clinching the coveted Ballon d’Or, becoming the first England player since Michael Owen in 2001 to win the award and taking his place as one of the greats of the game.
Kane finished as Europe’s top goalscorer last season, scoring 73 goals for club and country. He also led Bayern to a domestic double, winning the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, and skippered England to the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
But there was once a time when the so-called big trophies eluded him, and it took a record move to Germany for that jinx to break when he finally won a league title in the 2024/25 season when Bayern won the Bundesliga.
When at Tottenham, however, Kane was not only their best player by a mile but also one of the best forwards in the Premier League. While he finished as the Premier League top goal scorer in the 2015/16, 2016/17 and the 2020/21 seasons, the big titles regularly slipped out of his grasp.
In the 2016/17 season, Kane single-handedly dragged Spurs to a 2nd-placed finish in the Premier League, falling just short of eventual winners Chelsea. In the 2018-19 season, Kane again played a pivotal part in Tottenham’s run to the UEFA Champions League final but fell short after losing the summit clash to Liverpool. His Tottenham run ended in 2023 as he departed for pastures anew, having scored 317 goals in 213 matches.
After leaving Tottenham and going to Bayern, becoming the most expensive Bundesliga signing in history, the jinx of not winning a major league title still followed him like a bad habit as his debut season ended with the Bavarians finishing third. Xabi Alonso’s Invincible Bayer Leverkusen side clinched the title, with Kane having to be satisfied with a European Golden Shoe and the joint Champions League top-scorer.
Ultimately, in the 2024-25 season, Kane finally got a taste of winning a league title for the first time and was announced as the Bundesliga player of the season. As mentioned above, last season, he guided Bayern to a domestic double and won the 2026 Ballon d’Or.
Kane, however, is yet to win a big title in national colours, having come up short in the last 2 Euros (20120, 2024), falling in the finals to Spain and England respectively. In World Cups, he hasn’t had much luck either, having finished 4th in 2018, then getting eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2022 and then finishing 3rd in 2026, their highest since their title-winning campaign in 1966. Kane is also a World Cup Golden Boot winner (2018) and the joint top scorer of Euro 2024. He is also England’s leading goal scorer in World Cups with 14 strikes.