At last a silverware for Garry Kane

When Bayern Munich FC was declared the 2024-25 Bundesliga champion, followers of the European league matches must have breathed a big sigh of relief. Not really for anything, but for Harry Kane, their striker, to clutch and lift a trophy after years of silverware famously evading him. For many who have been at the heels […]

When Bayern Munich FC was declared the 2024-25 Bundesliga champion, followers of the European league matches must have breathed a big sigh of relief. Not really for anything, but for Harry Kane, their striker, to clutch and lift a trophy after years of silverware famously evading him. For many who have been at the heels of the career of this great striker, who has spent over a decade of his senior career at Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League, as well as captaining the English national team, the sigh must have been deep and loud.

Normally, one is not a supporter of the Spurs – it would not be compatible with supporting the all-time great, same city-based rival, Arsenal FC – but whenever Harry Kane was on the pitch with Spurs, one could not help being riveted to his goal-scoring abilities. In the many years he spent at Spurs, he was reputed to be the all-time highest goal scorer. And as he also plays for the English national team, he has acquired the same stature there, too. He had laurels to show for that. He has won the Golden Boots, the award given to the player with the highest goal tally, in the World Cup when he captained the England team and the Premier League, when he was with the Spurs, as well as the Bundesliga Torjager Kanone, the German equivalent, when he moved to Bayern Munich. Yet for all these scoring triumphs, Kane never had the privilege of hoisting a trophy for his club or national team.

I began to notice Kane about a decade ago as a goal-scoring prodigy for the Spurs, particularly when he began to team up with Son Heung-min, the South Korean, reputed to be one of the best wingers in the world, making it always a delight to watch the duo at play. Kane was noticed early and invited to the English national team. It was a lucky break for the team as its most outstanding player, Wayne Rooney, was coming to the sunset of his illustrious career with the English national team. Kane became a worthy replacement and, in just a matter of two years, assumed its captaincy.

In effect, he became both captain of the Spurs as well as the English national team. Coincidentally, the two teams both continued to suffer from the lack of silverware during his captaincy. Yet, Kane continued to score for both teams profusely. Kane led the English national team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and though his team finished in fourth place, he was awarded the Golden Boot as the top goal scorer of the World Cup, which he achieved with his six goals tally in the tournament. The same scenario was reenacted in the Euro 2024, where he took his team to the finals, and though his team lost, he became a winner for the Golden Boot as one of the highest goal scorers in the tournament.

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At the club level, Kane continued to score goals for the Spurs, year in and year out. He would always be counted upon to hit the back of the net, whether playing on his country’s turf or in the Champions League in Europe. However, it was only a matter of time before frustration began to set in for Kane. His teams’ inability to capture a trophy was becoming hard to bear.  Both the Spurs and the English national team will tantalisingly head towards the desired goal, many a time reaching the finals, only to end up as runners-up. He became the butt of jokes by sports writers, while many wondered if he was truly jinxed.

Kane must have done a lot of soul-searching to accept moving to Bayern Munich when they approached the Spurs for him in 2023. Kane moved to Bayern at the start of the 2023-24 season, and as fate would have it, his bad luck apparently followed him there. Though he played as usual in superlative terms, becoming the highest goal scorer in the Bundesliga, his team failed to lift the cup. It was the first time in twelve years that Bayern Munich had failed to win the trophy. Unfortunately for Kane, to rub salt into the injury, that year Bayern also did not win any other trophy. This added fuel to the speculation that Kane was truly jinxed.

We can then imagine how relieved and triumphant Kane must have felt when, for the first time, he lifted a trophy. Bayern Munich not only won the trophy, but Kane also, for the second year running, was the overall top goal scorer of the tournament and thus won the Golden Boot. If there has ever been a curse on him, then it is now truly and finally broken. As he told journalists during the celebrations, “It’s nice to be on the other side, to be honest, to have that celebration I’ve not had before. I’ve seen my fair share of other teams lifting trophies.”