Harry Kane ends trophy drought as Bayern Munich crowned Bundesliga champions

Berlin: England forward Harry Kane finally ended his career-long trophy drought on Sunday after securing the Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich in his second season at the club.

Bayern secured their 34th German league after title rivals Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg on Sunday, leaving the leaders with an unassailable eight-point lead with two games left to play. Leverkusen needed to win to maintain any mathematical chance of claiming the title after Bayern drew 3-3 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.

With the draw, Leverkusen, last season’s champions, will remain at second place with 68 points, while Bayern secured their record-extending 33rd Bundesliga title since the league’s inception in 1963 with 76 points.

The title win is the first major trophy for Kane, who two weeks ago broke a league record with his 60th goal in his first 60 league games for Bayern. The English captain is also set to become the first player in Bundesliga history to be crowned top scorer in both his first two seasons.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, England's all-time top scorer and second on the all-time Premier League scorers' list, Kane had won a hatful of individual awards. He had, however, no single team trophy to show for his efforts after 400-odd goals for clubs and country and with talk of a 'Kane title curse' developing over the years.

Kane had spent the majority of his professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, playing for the London club from 2009-2023 with some loan spells in between, prior to joining Bayern in a league record transfer worth 100 million euros ($114 million). In England he had failed to win a trophy with Spurs, being Champions League runners-up in 2019, while also reaching consecutive finals at Euro 2020 and 2024 with the national team.

So his move to Bayern, Germany's record champions and six-time European champions, was all about finally adding trophies to his goal-scoring records and fulfilling his title-winning ambitions. In his first season, however, he saw Bayer Leverkusen cruise to a domestic league and Cup double without defeat, snapping an 11-season title-winning run by Bayern along the way, as the Kane title 'curse' headlines re-emerged.

"We can take a moment now to enjoy winning the Bundesliga," said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany in a club statement, after securing the title. "What an incredible feeling! I want to congratulate the players for their outstanding effort throughout the season. You’ve done this together. You’ve won it as a team. The season’s not over yet, and there’s still so much to look forward to. Let’s finish strong, together," he said. 

Bayern will take part in the new-format Club World Cup starting in June in the United States. The Bavarians, who all gathered in Munich to watch Leverkusen's game together, will be presented with the league trophy on Saturday in their last home game of the season against Borussia Moenchengladbach.