Harry Kane will make his 126th appearance for England against Croatia at Wembley tonight (kick-off 19:45 GMT, Nations League), which makes him the most-capped men’s player in the country’s history. He drew level with Peter Shilton’s 125 against Czechia on 6 October, and the record falls the moment he walks out. It is the right result, and it’s a bigger one than the number suggests.

Shilton, a goalkeeper, won his 125 caps between 1970 and 1990. A striker who has played that many times at the top of the game, scored 91 goals and captained the side 97 times when starting is rarer than any keeper’s longevity, because forwards lose their place the first time the goals dry up.

The numbers behind 126

England have won 83, drawn 22 and lost 20 of the 125 games Kane has appeared in, according to BBC Sport. He has served five managers: Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce for one game, Southgate, Lee Carsley as interim and now Thomas Tuchel. Gareth Southgate alone gave him 81 of the 125.

The goals split is a good picture of how he plays. Of the 91, 58 are with the right foot, 15 with the left and 18 are headers, and 26 came from the penalty spot. He has 21 goals at major tournaments, a record, and has played 36 times at World Cups and Euros, more than any other England player.

From 79 seconds to a record

Kane scored 79 seconds into his debut, a 4-0 win over Lithuania in March 2015. He came on in the 70th minute and headed in Raheem Sterling’s cross. Hodgson said: “It’s great when fairytales come true.” He added: “Let’s hope it’s the start of a good and long England career for him.”

He became England’s record scorer in Naples in March 2023, passing Wayne Rooney, and marked his 100th cap against Finland in 2024 with both goals in a 2-0 win. This summer he scored twice in the last 15 minutes against DR Congo to save England in the last 32 of the World Cup, and later won the 2026 Ballon d’Or. Our piece on his reported Bayern extension covers his club future.

What the people around him say

Tuchel has built the evening around him. “He wins the Ballon d’Or, and deservedly so, and in the next game for England he gets the all-time record with 126 matches,” the head coach said when he named the squad. “Thursday is a deserved occasion to celebrate an extraordinary player.”

After the Czechia game Jude Bellingham said in his post-match interview: “He is the best England player to ever wear the shirt and it is an honour to play with him.” Shilton himself told him: “You will go on and beat [the record] in November, I’m sure of that”, and said Kane could set one “that will never be beaten”, according to TimesLIVE.

Joe Hart, his former England and Tottenham team-mate, put it more simply: “He is superhuman.”

The record that matters more

The cap record is a celebration. The one that decides how Kane is remembered is 100 goals. He is on 91, and only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Ali Daei have reached that mark. At his career rate of roughly 0.73 a game, nine more is 12 or 13 matches. That runs straight into Euro 2028, which England co-host and which Kane will approach at nearly 35.

That is the argument for starting him whenever he is fit. The harder question is who leads the line once he stops, and for now England have no obvious answer.

Tonight’s team news is in our England vs Croatia predicted lineup, and the goalkeeper debate is covered in Pickford or Trafford. Kick-off is 19:45 GMT at Wembley.