The year is 2005, and the David Beckham Football Academy has just opened in East London.

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The then-England captain poses for photos at his namesake academy’s launch, and he slings his arms around two fresh-faced youngsters in the inaugural squad. Fast forward to 2026, and those two fresh-faced youngsters are the luminaries of this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony: Harry and Kate Kane stand together on the red carpet outside the Palladium Theatre, about to share football’s most vaunted award - and they’ve landed there through a decades-long partnership of hard graft.

The charm of our current England Captain is that he remained a thoroughly decent bloke through his journey to football’s highest individual honour. We all know the legend: the great Harry Kane, who was initially turned away from football clubs for being “chubby” and “not naturally talented”, but went on to win the nation’s heart by........

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