Harry Kane #9

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Overtook Pelé’s international scoring record last year, but it wasn’t until last summer that he finally lifted a club trophy, when Bayern won their 34th Bundesliga. “It was a weight on me,” he said. “As the years go by you start to think: ‘Is it going to happen?’” It was a rough road to the top: at 19 he was loaned to Norwich, missed a sitter on his debut, played five times, scored no goals. He also had a hard time on loan at Leicester – which partly motivated his creation of the Harry Kane Foundation, supporting mental health charities. “There wasn’t just a straight line to the top [for me]. I had to really go through some tough times. I’m learning more and more [about mental health] and for sure it’s something that I’ll really try to take on and help as much as I can when my career has finished.” In his spare time he plays golf, collects watches and plays chess, inspired by watching The Queen's Gambit. He told GQ in 2024: “Since that came out I've started to learn and I'm about 1200 rated on the 10-minute version on Chess.com. It's fairly decent.”

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