Diego Maradona Gave Ballon d’Or Winner Harry Kane One Bit of Advice

When all is said and done, Harry Kane will now forever be considered among the greatest footballers of all time. After all, the English striker has become part of a rare collection of stars to win the Ballon d’Or.

The Bayern Munich star beat the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to the award, becoming the first British player to claim the prize since Michael Owen in 2001. Scoring 73 goals for club and country during the 2026/27 season, only Lionel Messi – with 82 goals in 2011/12 – has been more prolific than Kane in the modern era.

Of course, there is more to the 33-year-old, one of the oldest Ballon d’Or winners, than just his goals. He’s long been an elite passer of the ball, able to drop deep and unlock defences with his wonderful vision and technical ability. But really, it is his goalscoring ability that makes all the headlines.

This is why it’s rather interesting that Diego Maradona had some finishing advice for Kane when they met in 2017.

Action Images / Matthew Childs Livepic

Maradona was already a big fan of Kane while he was just 24 years old and still playing for Tottenham Hostpur. Meeting the Englishman for the first time, the Argentine remarked: “Wow, what a goalscorer. Hugo [Lloris] stops everything at one end, and Harry puts everything in at the other.”

However, Maradona was keen to also impart some wisdom on the talented young forward. He offered one bit of advice to the future Ballon d’Or winner, telling him to mix up his finishing:

It seems as though Kane took the advice on board. Speaking during the 2026 World Cup, he recalled the conversation, remarking: “[Maradona] was great when I met him. We only spoke briefly. There was a clip of him talking about me finishing and giving the keeper the eyes. It’s quite a nice clip actually.”

In the years since, Kane has gone on to become England and Tottenham’s all-time record goalscorer, as well as the fastest player in history to reach 100 Bundesliga goals. Perhaps Maradona’s advice really did come in handy as he honed his craft to become one of the sport’s finest finishers.

Maradona Never Won Ballon d’Or

Action Images via REUTERS

Kane seemed utterly delighted to win the Ballon d’Or after an astonishing season at Bayern in which he also won a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double. During his acceptance speech, he said:

“Wow. I’m speechless. Lucky I have this list here. Thank you to France Football, the Ballon d’Or for putting on this amazing event. Being in London is extra special, it was like a good omen for me tonight.”

Sadly, Maradona never got his hands on the Ballon d’Or. This is because the award was only for European players from its creation in 1956 until 1994. As such, Pele also missed out, but the legendary South American duo don’t need any prize to confirm their status among the world’s greatest – perhaps Kane will join them on that list when he retires.