5 top footballers we can’t believe are still awaiting their first major honour

The football world went crazy as Marco Reus finally lifted the first league title of his career with LA Galaxy, a reminder of how hard it is to actually win top honours.

Somewhat unfairly considering it’s a team game and involves plenty of fortune, footballers often live and die by the trophies they have – or in this case haven’t – won throughout their career. That has become more and more common in an era of social media and constant scrutiny.

Having given Reus his flowers, we’ve taken a look at five brilliant footballers who are still somehow awaiting the first major honour of their careers.

Harry Kane

You knew it was coming. Poor Harry spent years scoring for fun at Tottenham, came agonisingly close to a Premier League and a Champions League and was chasing down the Premier League scoring record, but left England empty-handed before joining Bayern Munich in 2023.

Finally, after years of anguish, he’d at least win a Bundesliga if nothing else. Right? Nope. Because in his first season, Bayer Leverkusen went unbeaten to win the league for the first time in their club’s history. Bayern, meanwhile, went trophyless.

He might actually be cursed.

Gregor Kobel

Keeping guard for the Bundesliga’s perennial ‘nearly men’, Kobel wasn’t around for any of Borussia Dortmund’s recent DfB-Pokal wins, but was in net as they finished Champions League runners up in 2024.

A fantastic goalkeeper with his best years still ahead of him, time is very much on the side of the Swiss, who has made the Bundesliga Team of the Season on two occasions. It might require leaving Dortmund, but only time will tell.

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Dimitri Payet

Now 37 (yes, you’re getting old), Payet is seeing out what remains of his career in Brazil with Vasco Da Gama – a strange move, but admittedly a romantic and commendable one in an era of retiring in the Middle East.

While his powers have waned, Payet in his pomp was genuinely fantastic and undoubtedly a world class footballer. The closest he got to a major honour was a Europa League runner up medal with Marseille in 2018, and a runner-up with France at Euro 2016.

Vasco finished 10th in the Brasileirao Serie A this season. They made the semi-final of the state championship in Rio de Janeiro, but that’s all she wrote. It’s looking like Payet will retire without having won a major honour.

READ: We still can’t believe how good Dimitri Payet was in his first West Ham season

Jordan Pickford

Football Twitter will tell you that Pickford is a fraud and while questions over the size of those arms are admittedly warranted, what cannot be questioned is the fact that he’s been capped 73 times for England and been crucial in them reaching two finals and a semi-final.

The English goalkeeper has consistently been one of the best in his position in the Premier League, especially considering his goal is regularly peppered at Everton, but with him keeping guard for a club constantly threatened by relegation, his chances of winning trophies are extremely slim.

Unless Thomas Tuchel can finally get England’s men’s team over the line, Everton suddenly turn a corner or Pickford gets a move, the 30-year-old’s chances of winning a major honour are admittedly very slim.

Son Heung-min

Son did win the Asian Games in 2018 but that was with South Korea’s under-23 side and thus cannot go down as a major honour. He’s shared the same agony as Kane over the years at Spurs and continued to do so, casting doubt over whether he can get over the line or not.

Now 32, the South Korean is at his peak – if not a little bit past it – and time is ticking if he wishes to get over the line and win some major honours at the top of the game like hi talent is worthy of.

At this point, it seems like he has a choice – stay loyal to Spurs or force a move in pursuit of silverware.