Harry Kane surpasses Cristiano Ronaldo's most prolific season as England and Bayern Munich striker's hot streak continues at World Cup
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Updated 12/07/2026 at 10:25 GMT+1
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Is there any stopping Harry Kane? The England captain's outrageous 2025/26 form has continued at the FIFA World Cup, where he took his goal tally at the tournament up to six against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca.
Bellingham takes 'responsibility' for getting England to 'another level of intensity'
Video credit: SNTV
England were 2-1 up in their last 16 clash with the tournament hosts after Jude Bellingham's double, but their hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals were left hanging by a thread after Jarell Quansah was shown a red card.
However, Kane came to the rescue, converting a crucial penalty after Anthony Gordon was taken out in the box to double his side's advantage in the closing stages of the game.
Kane's spot kick took his tally for the season to a staggering 73 goals for the season for club and country, and saw him move further clear of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career-best haul for a single campaign.
The Bayern Munich star is now on 73 goals from 64 games and counting, while Ronaldo’s best-ever return (via Opta) was 69 goals in 69 games in the 2011/12 season, for Real Madrid and Portugal.
Kane had already out-scored some of his most celebrated contemporaries.
Manchester City’s Norwegian powerhouse Erling Haaland mustered a career-best 61 goals from 61 games in 2022/23, while Kylian Mbappe’s highest return was 54 goals in 56 games the same year for Paris Saint-Germain and France.
Haaland and Mbappe, alongside Kane, are among the favourites for the Golden Boot at the World Cup this year, with the trio all rising to the occasion for their respective countries on one of the sport's grandest stages.
So, too, is a certain Lionel Messi. The Argentina legend scored a hat-trick in the opening game of his country’s title defence against Algeria, and he followed that up with a brace against Austria and another goal against Jordan.
Messi is also top dog when it comes to the single-season scoring record thanks to his astonishing 2011/12 campaign.
That year, he plundered a jaw-dropping 82 goals in 69 games for Barcelona and Argentina.
| Player | Season | Games | Goals |
| Lionel Messi | 2011/12 | 69 | 82 |
| Harry Kane | 2025/26 | 64 | 73 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 2011/12 | 69 | 69 |
| Erling Haaland* | 2022/23 | 61 | 61 |
| Kylian Mbappe | 2022/23 | 56 | 54 |
*since his Molde debut in April 2017
Kane would need to pull off something miraculous to threaten that record before the World Cup is out, as he nears the end of a remarkable season.
The 32-year-old claimed the domestic double for Bayern, winning his second straight Bundesliga title and the German Cup.
Along the way, he passed the 474 career goals mark of Jimmy Greaves to become the highest-scoring Englishman ever and won the Bundesliga golden boot for a third consecutive season.
However, Kane’s form could not stop Bayern crashing out of the UEFA Champions League at the semi-final stage to eventual champions PSG.
Kane’s season in numbers
| Competition | Games | Goals |
| Bundesliga | 31 | 36 |
| German Cup | 6 | 10 |
| Champions League | 13 | 14 |
| German Supercup | 1 | 1 |
| World Cup qualifiers | 5 | 5 |
| International friendlies | 2 | 1 |
| World Cup | 6 | 6 |
| TOTAL | 64 | 73 |
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