Fans of ENGLAND were left in disbelief when Gary Lineker and Harry Kane stated they had never encountered each other, though that wasn’t entirely true.

Both Three Lions icons attended the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony at the London Palladium.

Kane made history as the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001, surpassing competitors like Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe to claim football’s most coveted individual honor.

During their time on the red carpet, both Kane and former Match of the Day host Lineker informed British GQ that they had not yet met.

Starting the conversation, the 65-year-old Lineker remarked: “I’ve actually never met Harry Kane. I have never, ever met Harry. So that’s wild; I would like to meet him.”

When this was relayed to Kane, who plays for Bayern Munich, he also expressed it would be great to meet Lineker, adding: “That’s true, we’ve never met.”

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“We’ve exchanged messages on camera, but we’ve never actually met in person,” Kane added.

Kane then inquired if Lineker – who also played for Tottenham and Leicester – was present, to which the reporter confirmed he was, and Kane expressed his intention to meet him that night.

Ultimately, the duo did meet and were seen embracing and conversing later in the evening.

Online, one fan remarked: “It’s completely bizarre that they’ve never met.”

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Another fan said: “When Gary met Harry.”

A third added: “Two of England’s greatest World Cup goalscorers, both associated with Leicester and Tottenham, but had never met each other. That’s unbelievable.”

Another user exclaimed: “That’s astonishing. The first encounter between these two incredible England strikers.”

A fifth commented: “How is that even feasible…?”

Despite Lineker and Kane being well-known for their exceptional goal-scoring abilities, they both missed the mark with their memories.

It turns out they had actually met before, specifically in 2017 at the Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, and again in 2018.

During both events, they were on stage together, but they apparently only exchanged brief greetings that didn’t register as a memorable encounter for either.

One topic they might have covered was Kane surpassing Lineker’s record for the most World Cup goals for England over the summer, now at 14 for Kane compared to Lineker’s 10, with both tallying six in knockout matches.