Harry Kane to become England men’s record cap-holder as he prepares for Croatia at Wembley
Harry Kane will become the most capped player for England’s men when he features against Croatia at Wembley on 12 November 2026, a milestone that will be his 126th appearance for his country.
Kane’s 126 caps will draw him level with players such as Dani Alves, Eden Hazard and Paolo Maldini, while Kevin De Bruyne and Luís Figo sit on 127 and Manuel Neuer on 128. The total remains modest by wider international standards and in the context of women’s football, where Fara Williams made 172 appearances for England and Jill Scott 161, Kane’s figure is lower than several Lionesses including Lucy Bronze (148), Karen Carney (144), Alex Scott (140), Casey Stoney (130) and Rachel Yankey (129).
Within the men’s game, Kane’s record contains additional distinctions: he has made 36 appearances at major tournaments, the most by an Englishman, and has 18 European Championship appearances. He is one short of Jordan Pickford’s World Cup record of 19 and has played 26 more competitive games for England’s men than any other player. Kane also recently signed a contract extension with Bayern Munich until 2029, a detail the piece notes in relation to the possibility of adding to his tally at the 2030 World Cup at age 36.
The article places Kane’s total in historical context by pointing to structural changes in international football: the Nations League’s introduction from September 2018 gave recent players more competitive fixtures, while earlier eras had more friendlies and fewer qualifiers. Billy Wright’s 105 caps came between 1946 and 1959, during which he missed three England matches and played only 10 World Cup qualifiers — the same number England had for the 2022 tournament. The first European Championship did not occur until 1960.
Comparisons with past players also highlight differences in availability and selection: Wright featured in 105 of England’s 108 matches between his debut and final game, a 97% appearance rate. Des Walker played in 92% of England’s matches between his first and last caps; David Platt appeared in 41 of those games, representing 82% of possible matches, marginally ahead of Kane’s 81%. The piece notes Kane’s international span has been almost as long as Walker’s and Platt’s combined.
No player in the Premier League era has been as consistently selected across at least a decade as Kane, the article states. He has missed 29 England matches in total, including 12 for which he was an unused substitute; of the remaining 17 absences, 12 were friendlies and one was in the second tier of the Nations League. He also made 12 starts against Andorra, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and San Marino, eight of those games being away from home.
The fixture against Croatia at Wembley on 12 November 2026 will be Kane’s 126th England appearance, and with his Bayern Munich contract running until 2029 the piece raises the prospect — noted in the source — of him potentially extending his international tally at the 2030 World Cup at the age of 36.