Spot-kick king Harry Kane may be the world’s best penalty taker and the Bayern Munich man has the stats to prove it
Superstar striker Harry Kane has taken 20 penalties since joining Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023, including two against Werder Bremen on Matchday 21. He’s scored every single one of them.
The 31-year-old has been so deadly from the spot during his time in Germany, even he's beginning to wonder if he’ll ever miss another one. “Maybe – it is possible,” grinned Kane after Saturday’s win over Werder Bremen, when asked by reporters if he feels he’ll ever fail from the spot again.
For Bayern and England, the forward has now scored 29 in a row. That run includes three in the Champions League and nine in the Bundesliga this campaign alone – the latter competition’s highest tally for 25 years. Not since legendary Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt scored the same amount across the 1999/00 season has a player been so successful in a single term.
Before Butt, only Bayern great Paul Breitner managed more (10) in a season, way back in 1980/81. Kane still has another 13 matches to go as he bids to steal the record outright.
You have to go back to December 2022 for the last time Kane missed from 12 yards. That day, the England captain blazed an effort over the crossbar during his nation’s 2-1 quarter-final defeat to France at Qatar 2022. He spoke after that match about the pain the miss caused him, and vowed to use it to spur him on in future.
It’s clearly working. Aside from his club form, Kane has scored six out of six for his country since the France game, including an all-important equaliser against the Netherlands in the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2024.
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Only around 75 percent of Bundesliga penalties are scored. Statistically-speaking, Kane ought to be missing roughly one every 14 attempts – or two to date in Germany. Not that he seems to care about statistics. His form has seen him grow his overall account to 88 successful career penalties, with just 11 misses – the latter all from before his time in Germany.
The stats show he was already good, but he’s getting better, having left his homeland often derided by Germans for their failures from 12 yards. His Bayern coach, Vincent Kompany, reveals it’s no fluke, either. “It’s not luck, he works extremely hard on them,” the Belgian recently said of his chief goalscorer – who also leads the Bundesliga for goals scored (21) this campaign.
Kane’s teammate and captain Manuel Neuer claims to have witnessed a few unsuccessful attempts in training, but also confirms just how dedicated Kane is to nailing down his technique. “He trains the entire process,” the goalkeeper has said. “So it’s no coincidence that he scores so many. He dedicates time to it. He’s disciplined.”
Another Bayern teammate, Joshua Kimmich, has spoken of Kane’s “extraordinary” ability from the spot, while Bayern president Herbert Hainer claims to have “never seen anyone so good at penalties as him.” It’s high praise indeed from all of Kane’s team-mates, and superiors, at Bayern.
Should his side continue to win penalties at the rate they have so far, and Kane continues convert them, he’s on course to score more than 14 this Bundesliga season – a record that might never be broken.
Regardless of how many more he gets, however, one thing is for sure: Kane has already cemented his place among the world’s greatest penalty takers, and one of the best in Bundesliga history.
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