Harry Kane

Youth career and loan spells

Kane joined the Arsenal youth academy before turning eight but was released after just a year for not being “very athletic.” He returned to the Ridgeway Rovers in 2002, staying until 2004, when he moved to the Watford youth academy. Within a few weeks he had scored a hat trick against Spurs’ youth team, leading to the latter signing him for its own academy. He rose through the ranks to the club’s under-18 team in 2009 and signed with the senior team in 2010.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.

SIGN UP

By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Kane was frequently loaned out to other clubs during his early years at Spurs. In 2011 he spent a few months with Leyton Orient, which plays in League One, the third tier of professional English football. Kane scored his first goal for Leyton Orient in January in a 4–0 win over the club Sheffield Wednesday and finished his stint there with five goals in 18 games.

Kane’s first appearance for the senior Spurs side came in a UEFA Europa League qualifier against the club Heart of Midlothian FC in August 2011; the match was a goalless draw. In December that year he scored his first goal for Spurs against the Shamrock Rovers in a UEFA Europa League game. In early 2012 Kane joined the second-tier English Championship club Millwall on loan, scoring nine goals in 27 appearances and earning the club’s Young Player of the Year award. He returned to Spurs in May and made his EPL club debut in a game against Newcastle United in August. In the subsequent 2012–13 season Kane was loaned first to Norwich City and then to Leicester City.

At Tottenham Hotspur

Kane would spend the next 10 seasons with Tottenham Hotspur, where he soon became part of the starting lineup. In February 2015 he signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with the club. In the same period he became only the fourth player in EPL history to win the Player of the Month award twice in a row (February and March). He captained the team for the first time in April that year.

Kane continued his prolific goal scoring in 2015–16 and won the Golden Boot for most goals scored during that EPL season, helping Spurs qualify for the next season’s UEFA Champions League as well. He won the EPL Golden Boot again in 2016–17, and the next year he scored six hat tricks, becoming the first player in EPL history to achieve the feat. Injury struggles—including torn ankle ligaments and a torn thigh muscle—caused him to miss several games in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons. But he returned to form with his third EPL Golden Boot in the 2020–21 season. In February 2023 Kane passed Jimmy Greaves to become Spurs’ all-time top goal scorer; he would finish with 280 goals in 435 matches for the club, but with no trophies.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Transfer to Bayern Munich and winning silverware

In August 2023 Kane was transferred to the Bundesliga (German domestic football league) club Bayern Munich for an estimated transfer fee of more than €100 million (about $109 million). That month he debuted for his new club in a defeat to RB Leipzig in a German Super Cup match (an annual fixture played by previous season’s winners of the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup, a knockout competition), but he finished the season with a phenomenal 45 goals in just 44 appearances across all competitions and emerged as the league’s top scorer with 36 goals. He repeated the feat the next year, playing a key role in his club winning the Bundesliga—Kane’s first major title. He scored 61 goals across all competitions in the 2025–26 season and helped Bayern Munich win another Bundesliga title. He also became the most prolific English goal scorer in history, surpassing Greaves’s tally of 473 goals scored in club and international football.

Youth international call-ups

Kane debuted for England in the under-17 side in 2010, scoring two goals in five appearances. He moved up through the ranks, scoring eight goals for the under-19 team and one goal in three appearances for the under-20 team at the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, where England was eliminated in the group stage. He also scored eight goals for England’s under-21 team from 2013 to 2015.

European Championship appearances

There was speculation that Kane would play for Ireland at the senior level since he was eligible to play for the country through his father, but the rumors were dismissed. He eventually debuted for England in March 2015 in a European Championship (Euro) 2016 qualifier against Lithuania, scoring a goal after only 79 seconds on the field. He would score two more goals in his next five matches as England successfully qualified for Euro 2016, but he failed to score during the main tournament as the national team exited in the second round.

Kane scored in every qualification game for the Euro 2020 tournament, including hat tricks against Bulgaria and Montenegro. In the main event, held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kane scored four goals in the knockout stages and led England, the tournament’s host, to the final, which it lost to Italy in a penalty shoot-out.

In March 2023 Kane scored a goal in England’s 2–1 away win over Italy during the Euro 2024 qualifiers, its first win in the latter country since 1961. The goal made Kane England’s most prolific international goal scorer of all time, bettering Wayne Rooney’s previous record of 53 goals. Remarkably, Kane scored his goals in 39 fewer games. Once again, he led England’s campaign at the Euro 2024 with three goals, sharing the Golden Boot with five other players (Spain’s Dani Olmo, Germany’s Jamal Musiala, Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo, Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze, and Slovakia’s Ivan Schranz). Kane and England suffered another heartbreaking loss in the final, this time to Spain. In October 2026, during a UEFA Nations League match against Czechia, Kane scored two goals to help England win the match 3–0 and equaled former English goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s record of 125 international appearances for the national team.

World Cup performances

Kane missed several qualification games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup because of injury, though he captained England for the first time in a qualifier against Scotland in June 2017. England successfully qualified, and Kane, at just 24, was named captain for the World Cup. He scored six goals at the tournament, including a hat trick in the group-stage game against Panama, leading England to a fourth-place finish. He won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s leading goal scorer.

Kane scored two more hat tricks during England’s qualification matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but ironically it was his missed penalty that contributed to the team’s exit from the main tournament in a 2–1 defeat to France in the quarterfinal.

Kane has continued to captain England, and his eight goals in the qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup have guaranteed England another World Cup spot. He swiftly became his team’s top scorer at the tournament, scoring a brace in England’s 4–2 victory against Croatia, and scoring once in England’s 2–0 defeat of Panama. He was crucial in a hard-fought win against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the knockout stage, scoring both goals of the 2–1 result. During the round of 16 match against Mexico, he scored a crucial penalty to help England win the match 3–2 and advance to the quarterfinals. England defeated Norway and met Argentina in the semifinal, losing 2–1. Kane was benched for the third place playoff against France, which England won 6–4.