After the season booms with 61 goals for Bayern Munich, British pre-subscription Harry Kane shared on the L ’Équipe on World Cup championship ambition 2026 and dream of conquering the Golden Ball.
Harry Kane celebrated the goal in the Albanian match - England in the 2026 World Cup round at Air Albania Field, Tirana, Albania on 16 November 20,25. Image: Reuters
Before joining Bayern in 2023, he received no little doubt because the collection of empty group titles. But this season, you won both the German Super Cup, Bundesliga and the National Cup. What's so special about the feeling of lifting the cup after all these years?
It is true I had to be a lot more patient than the players at the same level at the time, when I was wearing a Tottenham shirt from 2011 to 2023. I've always had the feeling that I've been going through great seasons, but I've got the unwilling force to help the team cross the line. The more seasons passed, the greater my desire for championship. I knew that when I arrived in Bayern, the chance to make that happen would be higher.
You scored 61 goals for Bayern. If someone said last summer you'd touch this number, would you believe it?
I'm not sure, because that number is really crazy. My previous record at the club level was 44 Season Table 2023-224. Upon crossing the 60-table landmark, you've entered the universe of stars that last time only Lionel Messi (73 Season Tables 2011-2012 and 60 Season Tables 2012-2013) or Cristano Ronaldo (60 Summer Tables 2011-2012 and 61 Season Tables 2014-2015) once touched. To be honest, at the time, their statistics were incredible to me.
You're playing more and more like a nine. It feels like the further you step away from the city, the more goals you score. That sounds a bit paradoxical, doesn't it?
Maybe this comes from Coach Vincent Kompany that allowed me to play more freely. In recent years, I have also learned to choose the right time to enter the forbidden area. When you're fixed, sometimes you just stand in a restricted area waiting for teammates to deploy, and that makes it easier for the rear guard to lock you down. On the contrary, when I take the initiative to step back in stone as some 8, even number 6, I may suddenly accelerate the rush into the gap where the enemy defense system is not ready to turn.
Kane in the PSG game - Bayern Munich at the semifinal of Champions League 2025-2026 at Parc des Princes on April 29, 2026. Image: L'Équipe
Is it part of the competitive drive you broke up this season, when last fall, both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe scored?
It's true that all three of us had a very boom start of the season. I know about their numbers, but it's never been an obsession for me to cross them. I crossed the 60 table line this season simply because, unlike the years before, I didn't go through a single touch-down stage. I have maintained stability throughout.
This is what helped me win the second European Golden Shoe in three years...
I'm very proud, especially when I remember right, only Ronaldo and Messi once won this title more than twice.
You seem to know all the statistics of the well-known predecessors both past and present?
Yes, I like to use those landmarks as an incentive. (Laughter) But after all, with a personal reward like the Golden Shoe, I understood that I would be nothing without my teammates, my training departments and my supporters every day. Much of this achievement belonged to them.
Kane celebrated the goal in the Battle of Bayern Munich - Atlanta at the turn of the 1/8 Champions League 2025-2026 at Allianz Field, Munich, Germany March 19, 2026. Image: Reuters
The World Cup will begin on 11 June. As an English drafter, what is your ambition at this tournament?
The ultimate aim is, of course, the championship. It must be our only goal. Everyone knows the road will be difficult, but the British team has been very close to the glory in the major leagues lately. We were twice into the Euro 2021 and 2024 finals, once in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the finals of the 2022 World Cup... This year, the team has a new captain and many new elements. I'm very excited, despite the pressure from these playgrounds that are extremely terrible.
Exactly. How do you regulate the big expectations that are always on the team, a group that has not won a title since the 1966 World Cup?
Meadow decided to create a "bong ball" to protect the team during the tournament to isolate himself from what I call noise, omission. There will always be experts, newspapers, podcast channels talking... If you keep listening and reading all that, you're going to go crazy. Thus, the entire team must make clear the objectives and courses set, concentrate on the exercise and build a safe environment at the corporate capital, not easily knocked down after a negative result. But let's just say, we can go ahead of the tournament as much as we want, and the difference is really only on the field.
As you just mentioned, this will be your first major league under the leadership of Coach Thomas Tuchel. What is the relationship between the two now?
- We have a very good relationship, which has been built since the time of Tuchel and in Bayern (2023-2024). His presence on the training bench was, in fact, one of the reasons I nodded to sign with the German club. At some point, he's re-representing his method of reasoning in the UK.
Kane and Coach Thomas Tuchel (right) when he was still leading Bayern Munich, during the meet with RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup on Allianz Field, Munich, Germany August 13, 2023. Image: Reuters
Did he speak before you about the extremely strong formation clean-up decisions when the World Cup switch, when deciding to underline a series of stars like Harry Maguire, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer?
No, he didn't. We had this conversation last winter and remained in touch throughout the season, but mainly short messages of "lucky luck" before the games. Of course we never discussed choosing who, who. He simply called to announce I was on the official list.
A notice that definitely doesn't startle you...
That's right. (Laughter) But he wanted to do the right thing. The World Cup was a big day anyway, so knowing that I would be involved, the feeling that that call was still great. Maybe the day I'm not getting the call is the bad day.
Is it hard to balance the "self-self-self" instinct of a table hunter and the need for a captain's "sensitivity"?
That's a really fragile line. Because, first expected at a forward is the goal. If you do, your voice before your teammates will significantly reduce your weight. But at the same time, a good leader is the one who understands that the defeat is not only in his own performance, but also in order to activate the potential of those around him.
Kane celebrated Bundesliga 2025-2026 after Bayern Munich - Cologne in Allianz Field, Munich, Germany May 16, 2026. Image: Reuters
- Many Midlands often use "sympathetic, fictional" pre-game therapy to prepare for major leagues. Have you ever closed your eyes and imagined yourself raising the World Cup gold cup on 17 July at the Occupation?
I used that therapy to prepare for every more specific game. I try to imagine what kind of pitch I'm about to kick, how my opponent plays, what my position on the field is and what opportunities I can exploit. However, if I told you I never dreamed of the moment of raising the Cup, it was a lie.
If you're the World Cup champion, do you think you'd be the number one candidate for the Golden Ball?
- Then I'll definitely be in the weight group. Looking at the titles I won the 2025-2026 season along with the number of goals I scored, I had absolutely the basis for competing.
If the Golden Ball was given right now, which means ignoring the World Cup element, would you be worthy to win?
I think so. Look at the best faces available: Michael Olise, the players who got into the Champions League finals and me. However, I'm not the type of person who likes to pat my chest that claims to be worthy of the Golden Ball. I'd like to let the stage performances speak for me.
What does the Golden Ball mean to you? Is that a dream from childhood?
Not really. It was only when I began to learn more about football in my teens that Ronaldo and Messi began to dominate this award (Rondo won the first Golden Ball in 2008, when Kane was 15), that I was fully aware of its iconic value.
Kane after the British - Japanese Concept at Wembley Stadium, London, England March 31, 2026. Image: Reuters
Did you know that this year's Golden Ball Award is going to be held in London, England on 26 October?
Yeah, I heard about that. Maybe it's a good omen for me. (Laughter) Taking the Golden Ball where he was born will surely double the speciality.
To close the conversation, what record did you aim to push at the 2026 World Cup?
The involuntary insignificance that everybody craves is the greatest foot title in the history of the World Cup series (held by Miroslav Klose with 16 tables). But I'm still a long way from that landmark (Kane now has eight goals). However, I am fully able to aim to break a British goalkeeper's score record at the World Cup playground (which now belongs to Gary Lineker with 10 goals). If I break that record, which means that British recruitment is winning and going deep, that's the ultimate goal.
Is this endless hope of rushing these new records like a journey without an end?
It's the stuff that keeps you hungry and pushes you forward. I'm the kind of person who's always trying to perfect myself every day. I can even play with you that my goal next season is to score more than 61 goals for the club (Laughter).
Wong Yi