How the way we talk about Harry Kane has changed The footballer, the figure beyond the pitch and the narrative surrounding him

Harry Kane is the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner. At 33, following a 73-goal season for Bayern Munich and England, the former Tottenham striker has become the fifth Englishman in history to win the award and the first since Michael Owen in 2001, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal in the final rankings.

Beyond the award winner, last night’s ceremony at the London Palladium also offered an interesting comparison between the outfits worn by its protagonists, ranging from elegant choices to more extravagant ones. Lamine Yamal, for example, arrived in a custom Chanel suit adorned with an enormous brooch on his chest, while Kylian Mbappé chose a velvet tuxedo by Dior. Kane, meanwhile, opted for a more traditional Thom Sweeney suit and highly polished shoes. Three different interpretations of elegance on a night that ended with the English striker’s triumph.

To celebrate the award, Bayern Munich organised a special initiative in London: 73 footballs, one for each goal scored by Kane last season, were distributed to former teammates, people from his hometown and at places that have shaped his career and private life. It was a tribute retracing the stages of a long and prolific career that, for many years, had been defined above all by what was still missing.

The year everything changed for Harry Kane

For years, Kane was discussed primarily in terms of what he had not yet achieved, rather than what he had already accomplished. He had not won silverware with Tottenham, despite reaching a Champions League final, nor with England, whom he had led to two European Championship finals. His individual performances were never in question, but the absence of trophies had become an all-too-common topic of public discussion. His move to Bayern Munich in 2023 was supposed to put an end to that narrative. Instead, during his first season in Germany, the Bavarian club’s run of eleven consecutive Bundesliga titles came to an end, further fuelling jokes about the Kane curse.

His move to Bayern, however, was not the only major change that summer. After a long partnership with Nike, Kane signed a lifetime deal with Skechers, becoming the first major face of the Californian brand’s entry into the football boot market. It was a rather unusual choice for a striker of his calibre, but it allowed the brand to enter a sector historically dominated by Nike, adidas and Puma with a globally recognisable ambassador. In some respects, the operation recalls what happened more recently with Kylian Mbappé’s move from Nike to On.

Meanwhile, the partnership between Kane and Skechers has grown through new boot models, custom editions and advertising campaigns, culminating in the launch of the “Off Pitch” lifestyle collection in 2025. The expansion of the partnership into everyday sneakers brought the relationship between the England striker and the brand beyond the pitch, moving it closer to his personal tastes and style.

Harry Kane’s style and personality

Returning to the Ballon d’Or red carpet, Kane’s choice faithfully reflected the personal taste he has described on more than one occasion. In a 2021 interview with GQ, the striker explained that he preferred neutral shades and was far from obsessed with attracting public attention. His everyday wardrobe, he said, consisted mainly of jeans, T-shirts, roll-necks and sneakers, while for formal occasions he preferred well-tailored suits.

Kane reiterated the same taste in a recent interview with SW Magazine, describing his own traditional style: chinos, polo shirts, shirts and classic shoes, without any particular extravagance. That does not mean, however, that he is detached from fashion or from the development of his commercial image. In 2018, for example, he became a BOSS ambassador, while his partnership with Skechers also expanded into lifestyle sneakers, through a collection featuring reinterpretations of the Koopa and UNO models.

The comparison with the other protagonists of the London ceremony, as well as with the winners of recent editions, is interesting and reveals a certain contrast. From Yamal and Mbappé, who are increasingly attentive to fashion and the pursuit of sophisticated looks, to Olise’s distinctive personal style, and figures such as Benzema, Messi and Rodri, each has a different relationship with clothing and personal image.

Within this landscape, Kane maintains a relatively understated profile, at least on the surface. But that has not prevented him from developing his own identity, one also connected to his passions and interests beyond football. The most important is golf, which occupies a significant part of his free time and led Kane to become an investor and ambassador for Reflo in 2024. The British brand specialises in sustainable sportswear and has a significant presence in golf.

A complete shift in the narrative

To understand how much the public perception of Harry Kane has changed in recent years, we could revisit one of our articles from 2017, in which we asked why the world continued to ignore him. Even then, we wondered why the striker had not yet become a true global star despite his numbers and his central role for Tottenham and England.

Nine years later, the landscape is very different. His move to Bayern expanded the international dimension of his career, while the success achieved in Germany, starting with the Bundesliga title in 2025, gradually made the conversation about Kane as a loser less relevant. At the same time, the way he is discussed also appears to have evolved. In April 2026, writing for The Guardian, Barney Ronay noted with some irony that Kane had suddenly become cool, even on the internet.

The award he won in London last night adds another element, perhaps the definitive one, to this evolution. Today, Kane is defined above all by his achievements, while his life away from the pitch also seems to be attracting more attention: his commercial partnerships, personal interests, off-pitch identity and even what the future might hold once his football career comes to an end. The striker has never hidden his desire to try to become an NFL kicker once his current career is over. For the moment, that project can continue to wait.