Harry Kane has enjoyed a career at the highest level that most players could only dream of — except for one thing.
The England and Bayern Munich star boasts a goal-scoring consistency to rival any striker in the world over the past decade and has played in some of the biggest games for club and country, including European Championship and UEFA Champions League finals.
He is second on the all-time list for Premier League goals and is one of only three players to have gone beyond the 200-mark in the competition, while no man has scored more goals for the England national team.
And yet, when it comes to winning trophies, Kane’s career has been a disappointment — at least until now.
MORE: Harry Kane and the top goal-scorers in England’s history
Has Harry Kane won a trophy? ‘Curse’ of star explained
Despite his remarkable consistency for club and country, Kane has never won a significant team trophy in his career, unless you count the 2010 Tourneio Internacional Algarve that he won with the England Under-17s (unsurprisingly, most people don’t).
Kane lost three finals with Tottenham — the 2015 and 2021 EFL Cups, and the 2019 UEFA Champions League — and finished second in the Premier League behind Chelsea in 2016/17.
He made his Bayern debut in the 2023 DFL-Supercup but, once again, he ended up on the losing side as RB Leipzig claimed a 3-0 victory. Despite scoring 36 goals in 32 league games, Kane was unable to fire Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2023/24 as Xabi Alonso’s remarkable Bayer Leverkusen won the domestic double without losing a game.
Kane has also suffered heartbreak for England, losing consecutive European Championship finals at the 2020 and 2024 tournaments and finishing third in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League. He was also part of the team that lost at the semifinal stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in which he won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer.
The fact his teams have always been the bridesmaids is why talk of a “curse” has developed around Kane’s career. His outstanding consistency at the highest level of the game means it really is an oddity that he does not have more medals to show for his efforts.
Of course, when it comes to individual accolades, Kane has plenty. A three-time winner of the Premier League Golden Boot, he has won numerous prizes in recognition of his goal-scoring exploits. In 2023/24, he won the European Golden Shoe and Gerd Muller award for the first time in his career, underlining the fact that, if anything, he is only getting better.
Harry Kane team: Which clubs has he played for?
Kane plays for Bayern Munich, Germany’s biggest club, having signed for them from Tottenham in August 2023 for an initial fee of €100 million (£86.3m/$108m).
Before then, Kane had spent his entire career as a Spurs player, although he did have four loan spells away from the club before cementing his place in north London.
Kane played for England from Under-17 level onwards and reached 100 caps for the senior national team in September 2024.
