Featured image adapted from Nana Kwaku Bonsam on Facebook and Harry Kane on Facebook.
Ahead of England’s World Cup match against Ghana tonight (23 June), a witch doctor attempted to swing things in his country’s favour by placing a curse on England’s superstar striker, Harry Kane.
Source: Harry Kane on Facebook
The Ghanaian spiritualist previously took credit for injuring Cristiano Ronaldo during Ghana’s 2-1 defeat to Portugal at the 2014 World Cup.
With one win each in Group L, England and Ghana both seek to cement their spot in the World Cup knockout stage.
While England is generally seen as favourites, one Ghanaian witch doctor aims to put a stop to it.
Nana Kwaku Bonsam, whose name means “Devil of Wednesday”, set his sights specifically on England’s team captain, Harry Kane.
Source: Nana Kwaku Bonsam on Facebook
Kane is noted as one of the best strikers of his generation and is England’s all-time top goalscorer.
He scored two out of four goals in his nation’s 4-2 victory over Croatia on 18 June.
“I am working on Harry Kane. I have shown what I am capable of before, so I know what work I must do to stop him,” Bonsam said.
He claimed that he would not cause Kane serious injury, but rather “just enough” to impede him against Ghana.
Source: Harry Kane on Facebook
While it may seem odd, hoping to curse a football player or team isn’t exactly novel.
Back in the 2014 World Cup, Bonsam claimed responsibility for Cristiano Ronaldo’s left knee problem ahead of Portugal’s match with Ghana.
The witch doctor alleged that the spiritual injury could not be cured by any medic.
Ironically, Portugal subsequently defeated Ghana 2-1, with an injured Ronaldo even scoring the winning goal.
Source: FIFA World Cup on Facebook
Both teams ended up being eliminated from the World Cup regardless.
The Australian national team infamously hired a witch doctor ahead of their match with Rhodesia in the 1970 World Cup qualifiers.
Australia won the match, supposedly with the witch doctor’s help, but did not pay him for his service.
The witch doctor promptly cursed the Australian team instead. In their next match, they lost to Israel and failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Australia managed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. However, the curse was nonetheless used to explain the country’s failure to qualify for the subsequent World Cup tournaments.
The curse would allegedly be removed by a separate witch doctor in 2004, and Australia has qualified for every World Cup since.
Source: Rusty8 on Wikimedia Commons
Former Liverpool FC goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar also claimed that a witch doctor cursed his club in 1992, preventing them from winning the English Premier League (EPL) for almost two decades.
After Liverpool won the EPL 2019/20 season, Grobbelaar took credit for breaking the curse by splashing his urine on all four goalposts at their Anfield home stadium.
In fact, Bonsam’s promised curse isn’t even the first curse associated with Harry Kane.
Kane was known for the “trophy curse”, where he could never win a major trophy for club or country despite being regarded as a top-quality elite striker.
When he joined Bayern Munich in 2023, they had won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles since 2013.
The German giants promptly broke the trend and did not win the 2023/24 Bundesliga title.
Source: Football365
He also played in the 2022 World Cup, when France eliminated England at the quarter-finals stage.
Harry Kane finally broke the trophy curse when Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga in the 2024/25 season.
Source: DFL via FC Bayern
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Featured image adapted from Nana Kwaku Bonsam on Facebook and Harry Kane on Facebook.