Harry Kane had been largely anonymous for seventy-five minutes in Atlanta. DR Congo led 1-0 through Brian Cipenga‘s opener, their goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi had been making saves that belonged in a different bracket of tournament entirely, and England were fifteen minutes from one of the most embarrassing exits in their World Cup history.
Then Harry Kane headed the equaliser. Then, with four minutes left, he collected the ball on the edge of the box, turned, strode forward and flashed a powerful right-foot finish high past Mpasi that sent England through 2-1 and set up a Round of 16 clash against Mexico at the Azteca. Five World Cup goals in this tournament. Thirteen World Cup goals in total, level with the legendary Just Fontaine, one ahead of Pelé. Four headed goals in World Cups, more than anyone since 1966 except Klose and Müller. The man who scores all the goals, carries all the pressure and apparently cooks a mean steak.
Because beneath the statistics and the captain’s armband and the weight of a nation’s expectations is a person with a life, a family, a handicap of three, two Labradors named after NFL quarterbacks, and a chess opening he absolutely refused to reveal on camera.
Here are the ten things Harry Kane cannot live without.
1. His family
Harry Kane did not hesitate for a second when listing his first essential. It is his family, and the way he talks about them makes the hierarchy completely clear, everything else on this list is secondary by some distance. He has four children with his wife Katie, two girls, two boys, and the photograph he produced for the camera was the kind of image that makes it obvious why he keeps it close.
“It’s the best feeling in the world being a dad and spending time with them and watching them grow up,” Harry Kane said. “The most important thing in my life and everything I do is for them.” He is also the kind of father who dances to “Wagon Wheel” in the playroom with his kids, which is information we will come back to.
2. Golf
Harry Kane is a scratch-plus player in terms of commitment and a three-handicapper in terms of actual ability, which at his level of sporting obsession is worth noting. Golf has been the primary escape route from the pressure of professional football for most of his career, the one place where he can go and be purely a recreational competitor rather than the man carrying England’s tournament hopes on his back.
The pig on his golf bag has been there for twelve years. His wife put it there early in their relationship as a gentle reminder that he was spending every available hour on the course rather than with her. It has stayed because the kids love it and because it has quietly evolved from mild rebuke into something that functions as a lucky charm. He cannot bring himself to take it off and at this point probably never will.
Harry Kane mentioned the viral trick shot he posted, and confirmed with what seemed like relief that it did not go in first attempt. “It took me a bit of time to do it,” he said, “but ended up coming out really well and a lot of people spoke highly of it.” The satisfaction in his voice was genuine a footballer who has scored World Cup goals against some of the best goalkeepers on the planet, getting a specific kind of pleasure from one well-executed trick shot on a golf course.
3. Chess
The Queen’s Gambit did this. Netflix put out a television series about a chess prodigy and Erling Haaland picked up a ball and started scoring goals and Harry Kane picked up a chess board and started working on his opening theory. He has been playing for about two years now and sits at a rating of approximately 1200 on the ten-minute version on chess.com, which he assessed with characteristic honesty as “fairly decent.”
He plays Joshua Kimmich at Bayern Munich. He has heard that Kingsley Coman is the best player in the squad and has been deliberately avoiding that match until he feels his game is ready. The competitive instinct that makes him a World Cup-level striker apparently extends to not wanting to get crushed at chess by a teammate until he has done sufficient preparation.
He was asked to show his signature opening on camera and the response was theatrical reluctance, he started to demonstrate, then stopped, laughed, and said “I can’t tell my trick here, you know.” Everyone online now knows exactly what he was going to play. He also uses chess while sitting in the ice bath, which is either the most efficient use of cold water recovery time imaginable or a very specific form of mental self-torture. Probably both.
4. Ice Baths
Eight degrees. Ten minutes. Every training session. For seven or eight years. Harry Kane is deeply committed to ice bath recovery in a way that goes beyond routine, it is a structured, deliberate part of how he has kept himself on the pitch week after week, tournament after tournament, at a level that now has him approaching Gary Lineker‘s record of six World Cup knockout goals with five of his own.
He talked about the breathing, learning to control the initial shock of the cold, the breath-catching moment when your body registers what it is being asked to do. “The more you do it, the more you get used to it,” he said, which is true of most things that are genuinely unpleasant. He sometimes goes up to the belly button, sometimes to the shoulders, with hands free so he can play chess on his phone during the session. The image of Harry Kane, submerged in eight-degree water in his ice bath, playing chess on his phone, is one of the more distinctive portraits of professional athletic preparation available.
5. His diary
These one surprised people because it is so resolutely non-digital. Harry Kane uses a physical diary more than his phone, which in 2026 puts him in a fairly specific minority. He logs his schedules and daily routines, but the diary serves a deeper purpose, he uses it to process thoughts, write down ideas, work through things that are sitting in his head.
The Harry Kane Foundation, which focuses on mental health, has given him a framework for thinking about this more intentionally. “Mental health is a big thing that I’ve been trying to learn more about,” he said, “especially the last couple years since we launched the foundation.”
The act of writing things down and watching them leave his mind is something he clearly values, a technique that has crossed from self-help philosophy into genuine daily practice for him. For a man under the kind of pressure England’s striker carries at every tournament, having somewhere to put the weight of it makes obvious sense.
6. His Patek Philippe watch
Harry Kane was not always a watch person. It happened gradually, about five or six years ago, and now he genuinely feels incomplete without one. The watch he brought to camera was a Patek Philippe 5370P split-second chronograph, a piece that operates at a price level that makes it one of the more extravagant items on this list.
“I feel naked if I’m not wearing one now,” he said with a slight laugh that suggested even he recognised how thoroughly he had been absorbed into watch culture. He has different watches for different occasions, something casual, something sporty for summer, and has embraced the collecting aspect of it with the same focus he applies to most things. For someone who spends his professional life in boots and training kit, the watch represents one of the few meaningful ways he expresses personal style.
7. Our Pure Planet headphones and speaker
Harry Kane uses noise-cancelling headphones on the plane and earbuds on the team bus and walking to the dressing room before matches. This is standard elite athlete territory. What makes it slightly different is the brand he chose, Our Pure Planet, a company whose products are made from recycled plastic and whose environmental mission aligned with things Harry Kane had been trying to learn about and engage with.
The speaker lives at home. It plays Disney playlists. It plays Frozen and Encanto for the kids. It plays “Cars” for his son. And at some point in recent history, it has been playing “Wagon Wheel”, a country song by Darius Rucker that his boy apparently loves and that has become their shared song, something they dance to together in the playroom. Kane’s parents listened to country music when he was young, so the song carries a specific nostalgic weight for him alongside the newer association of watching his son enjoy it.
“I wouldn’t have picked you for the country guy,” the interviewer said. Kane’s response was immediate and completely confident: “I’m everything. I’m Burna Boy, I’m country, I’m Ed Sheeran, Adele.” This is, somehow, entirely believable.
8. Wilson and Brady
Two Labradors. One black, one tan. Named Wilson and Brady, which everyone assumed was a Wilson and Brady, Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, NFL quarterbacks’ tribute because they are rivals from the Seahawks-Patriots era. The truth is slightly less poetic. Harry Kane named the tan one Brady after Tom Brady, who he describes as a personal inspiration. His wife named the black one Wilson independently, for no NFL-related reason, and the coincidence has followed them ever since.
Harry Kane got them before the children arrived, back when he and his wife were in the stage of life where two Labradors were the biggest responsibility in the house. “In a way were probably harder than the children and the babies that we have now,” he said, which every dog owner will understand completely. They have been part of the family across multiple house moves, countries and football clubs and they are not going anywhere.
9. Acupuncture treatment
Roughly a hundred needles per session. Head, neck, spine, legs, ankles. Every part of the body that professional football destroys gradually over the course of a career. Harry Kane has been doing this for four years and the language he uses around it is unequivocal, he says it produced “massive changes” in his career, allowed his body to recover quicker between games, and made it possible for him to play the kind of sustained, high-intensity football that scoring five goals in a World Cup requires.
“The body in general was able to recover quicker from games, was able to play more and more and feel good,” Harry Kane said. For a tournament where England are playing every three or four days in high pressure knockout conditions, every marginal advantage in recovery matters. The acupuncture, the ice baths, the diary, the chess, all of it adds up to a carefully constructed system for maintaining performance and managing the psychological demands of being Harry Kane.
10. Steak and chips
Haary Kane saves the most relatable one for last. Steak and chips. Olive oil, salt and pepper, ketchup. Some chilli broccoli or spinach on the side. He does not eat it all the time but he cooks it himself, with confidence, he is keen to make clear, and it reminds him of home in London in a way that a 600-gram filet in Munich cannot quite replicate even when the quality is identical.
“I’m not a big carb guy,” he explained, which is why the steak does the heavy lifting, protein, satiation, pleasure, without the pasta and rice and bread that would constitute a more conventional athlete’s comfort food. He can apparently handle himself in the kitchen when steak is involved. The man who has now scored thirteen World Cup goals, level with Just Fontaine, ahead of Pelé, goes home after all of it and makes steak and chips and watches his dogs run around and dances with his son to “Wagon Wheel.”
Which, when you think about it, is exactly the kind of person you want as your captain when you are fifteen minutes from being eliminated by DR Congo.
FAQ section
Following his brace against DR Congo in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32, Harry Kane has scored 13 World Cup goals, moving level with Just Fontaine on the all-time scoring list.
England advanced to the Round of 16, where Harry Kane’s side will face Mexico after defeating DR Congo 2-1.
Harry Kane is captaining England at the FIFA World Cup 2026 under head coach Thomas Tuchel.
Harry Kane scored both goals as England came from behind to beat DR Congo 2-1 and qualify for the Round of 16.
Yes. Harry Kane is England’s all-time leading men’s international goalscorer and continues to extend his record.
Amar Pal Singh Bhalla is a sports writer covering cricket, football and tennis.
Based in India, he has followed the game for the last few years and writes
match analysis, previews and features for Beyond The Score
