Sport5 min(s) read
Published 11:08 11 Jul 2026 GMT
Donald Trump has made it very clear this week that he is a Harry Kane fan.
After England's 3-2 win over Mexico at the Azteca, the President took to Truth Social to post: "Harry Kane of England is a GREAT player!!!"
He later went further, telling reporters he had watched the game and that while he couldn't name most of the other players, he knows Kane.
"I played golf with him, and I like him a lot," he said.
"He's a good golfer. He's really great."
It was quite the endorsement. And it turns out the admiration goes both ways.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference in Miami on Friday, Kane confirmed that the round took place around 18 months ago in Palm Beach, after Trump invited him to play.
"He invited me to play when I was down in Palm Beach," Kane told reporters.
"When the President invites you somewhere... it was a pretty surreal experience just to meet him and obviously play golf with him."
Kane is well known as one of the better golfers on the England squad and has strong connections in the US through his friendship with NFL legend Tom Brady.
He spends time in Florida during the off-season from his club duties at Bayern Munich, which is how the invitation came about.
"I played all right, to be honest," he said.
It wasn't the course. It wasn't the security detail. It wasn't the surreal experience of teeing off alongside the sitting President of the United States.
It was how good Trump actually was.
"His golf is pretty good, to be honest," Kane said.
"I hope I can play as well as him when I'm his age. So, a unique experience. I was just grateful that he invited me down to play with him."
Kane is 32. Trump is 80.
The fact that a professional athlete came away impressed by the golf game of a man 48 years his senior says something, even if Trump's wider approach to fitness has raised a few eyebrows elsewhere.
He has told reporters he exercises for "about one minute a day, max" and his Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly said he does not understand how the President is still alive given his diet.
Kennedy has defended the golf, though.
"This guy walks nine miles a day on a golf course every weekend," he told Joe Rogan's podcast.
Trump was quick to add: "When I'm not using a cart."
Because Kane plays Norway tomorrow, and Trump is very much paying attention to this World Cup.
On the same day he praised Kane on Truth Social, Trump also claimed credit for getting FIFA to overturn a one-match suspension for US striker Folarin Balogun ahead of the round of 16 clash with Belgium.
"I'm the one that got them to do it," he said.
The decision to suspend the ban for a year prompted accusations of political interference from pundits, players, and fans worldwide. Trump's response: "I didn't think it was a foul."
Whether the President's support for Kane extends to actively backing England against Norway remains unclear.
But he has form for picking favourites at sporting events, and right now Kane appears to be his man.
Very well. Six goals in five games puts him fourth in the Golden Boot race, behind Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe on eight, and Erling Haaland on seven.
He rescued England against DR Congo in the round of 32 with a late header and an 86th-minute winner.
He then converted the penalty that sealed a chaotic 3-2 win over Mexico, a game in which Jude Bellingham scored twice in 98 seconds and Jarrell Quansah was sent off for serious foul play.
Kane has now made 15 World Cup starts, more than any English outfield player in history.
He lost his voice during his post-match interview after the Mexico game from shouting so much on the pitch.
Bellingham later joked that it was the most noise Kane had ever made.
The quarter-final at the Hard Rock Stadium pits Kane directly against Haaland, whose 6,000-calorie diet and obsessive recovery routine has turned him into one of the stories of the tournament.
Haaland has seven goals, including a brace that knocked out Brazil in the round of 16. Norway have not been at this stage of a World Cup since 1998.
Kane played down the individual rivalry on Friday.
"It's not about me versus him," he said. But the numbers are hard to ignore. Kane has six goals. Haaland has seven.
The Golden Boot is wide open. A semi-final place is on the line.
England have not won the World Cup since 1966. Norway have never been past the quarter-finals. Something has to give.
Trump, presumably, will be watching from one of his Florida properties. Or from the presidential suite of his new Air Force One.
His golf partner has a job to do first.
