Harry Kane wins record 126th England cap at Wembley
Harry Kane has won his 126th England men's cap, the most any player has earned for the national team. He started the Nations League match against Croatia at Wembley, a tournament where national sides play in groups for their own competition.
Kane had already drawn level with Peter Shilton's appearance record in October. Against Croatia he moved past it. The Guardian reported the milestone.
He made his England debut in March 2015. Since then he has become the country's leading goalscorer by a wide margin. He has 91 international goals, and Wayne Rooney, England's second-highest scorer, has 53.
Kane is 33. He scored six times in four games in late September and early October, a run that carried into the autumn. His form was not confined to the national team. He scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern Munich in the 2025-26 season, and he won the Ballon d'Or, football's award for the best player in the world, about two and a half weeks before this record.
Kane also helped England reach a World Cup semi-final, the stage where the last four teams in the tournament play for a place in the final.
Caps are the simplest way to measure a career for England players, because each one means a player was picked for a match. Kane's total now sits ahead of Shilton's long-standing mark. Shilton spent many years as the goalkeeper of the national side, so the record has stood as a benchmark for a long time.
The record is not the only milestone in England's squad. Declan Rice has 80 caps at 27, and Jude Bellingham has 60 at 23. Both are still early in their international careers, and both have time to add to their totals.
In the women's game, Fara Williams holds England's most-capped record with 172 appearances. Seven women have played more times for England than Kane has played for the men's team.
For fans, the moment is a simple one. A player who arrived as a young striker in 2015 has now played more matches for his country than anyone else in the men's game. Whatever the result of the next fixture, that number is now written into the record books.
