Kane marked his 125th England outing with a brace in a 3-0 home triumph over Czechia last month as the Three Lions maintained their pursuit of a UEFA Nations League quarter-final spot. That he’ll win the record-setting cap under the famous Wembley arch in London, where he won the 2026 Ballon d’Or, feels apt.

It’s some achievement by the 33-year-old, who at this stage in his career, is likely to add to that record before he hangs up his boots.

Kane was something of a late bloomer on the international stage. Whereas 18-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha already has three caps to his name, the former Tottenham Hotspur star didn’t make his international debut until the age of 21.

By that point, he’d established himself as a Premier League regular, having scored 16 times in the 2014/15 season when Roy Hodgson called on the Leytonstone-born forward. Even then, it wasn’t enough for Kane to earn a first start.

Rather, he was introduced as a second-half substitute in an eventual 4-0 win over Lithuania in a Euro 2016 qualifier. The game was already over as a contest by the time he replaced Wayne Rooney with 20 minutes to play. Indeed, goals from Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling had set the national team on the path for a routine victory.

It took Kane, though, just 79 seconds to open his England account as he connected with a Sterling cross to head in his first senior goal. That header was the first of many for the Three Lions.

11-and-a-half years later, Kane is now expected to overhaul Shilton.

What stands out, however, is that Kane has won a sizable chunk of his international caps at major international tournaments. 36 have come at either the World Cup (18) or a European Championship (18). Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (33) is Kane’s closest competitor here, though he has made more World Cup appearances (19) than his international captain.

Yet Kane, having recently penned a new Bayern deal until 2029, is tipped to go clear of Pickford in the near future. The forward is ageing like a fine wine. He’ll turn 34 in July but has shown no signs of slowing. Rather, he continues to go from strength-to-strength. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Kane lead his nation at the 2030 World Cup, provided they qualify of course.

In terms of competitive England appearances, Kane is well out in front, with 106 of his 125 caps so far at a World Cup, a European Championship, a UEFA Nations Nations League, or a tournament qualifier. Managers save their best player for the big occasion, and he duly delivers.

That’s evident in that Kane has featured in 81% of possible matches for England since he made his debut in March 2015. The 2026 Ballon d’Or winner has missed 29 games since his first appearance for England, 12 of which were friendlies, while a further 12; he was an unused substitute, the 2026 World Cup Bronze Match 6-4 win over France a case in point.

Kane may become England men’s record appearance holder, but in the grand scheme of things, 126 caps is relatively low. In fact, it’ll rank joint-199th in world football to go level with the likes of former Brazil right-back Dani Alves, ex-Belgian winger Eden Hazard and Italian icon Paolo Maldini, to name three.

To put that into context, Ivan Perisic, who is suspended for Croatia’s meeting with England on Thursday night, has featured 162 times for his country. Luka Modric is in line to win cap number 207, taking him within one of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.

Ballon d’Or Winner of All Time victor, and former Portugal hitman, Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record with 234 caps to his name. It’s highly unlikely that Kane will come close to surpassing Ronaldo’s record.

The rapid goal on his England debut set the standard for Kane’s international career. Ultimately, it proved to be the first of 91 he has scored for his country. For context, Rooney is his closest competitor, with 53. Kane can be expected to extend that lead, be it against Croatia and Spain to round off England’s final games of the year, or further down the line.

Breaking it down further, 57 of his 91 goals (62.6%) have been scored with his right foot, 18 with his head (19.8%) and 16 with his left foot (17.6%). While he favours his wand of a right foot, Kane is more than capable of scoring any number of goals.

Meanwhile, of the 91 goals he has bagged for his country, 26 have been from the penalty spot (28.6%), while he has missed five times. Even so, 26 penalties scored is also a record for England. 

In the games he has scored in, he has struck multiple times in 18 matches. These include 13 braces and five hat-tricks, those coming against Panama, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania and San Marino. He actually netted four times in a resounding November 2021 10-0 win over the latter. He has to bag six more hat-tricks if he is to go level with Messi for this particular international record.

Kane will also hope to make 2026 his most prolific calendar year in an England shirt. As things stand, he has scored 14 international goals this year following respective two-goal salvos in wins over Croatia and Czechia last month. The four goals took him two clear of 2019, and within two of his 16 goals in 2021.

2020 was the only calendar year that Kane didn’t score in since his senior bow, though that was due to the COVID pandemic that curtailed international football. He made up for lost time the following year.

In terms of record goalscorers, Kane’s 91-goal haul ranks seventh in men’s international football. A stroke of luck would see Kane enter the top-five this month, though that would mean he needs to net at least three times and hope that Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku doesn’t add to his 94 goals.

Given his goal return on the international stage, Kane will feel confident about overhauling Ali Daei (108), and even Messi (126), the duo ranking third and second on this leaderboard. Catching Ronaldo (146) may be a bridge too far for Kane, who needs to make up 55 goals.

It’s nigh-on impossible, but certainly doable given Kane’s longevity. At 41, Ronaldo only recently retired from international football, and Kane seems to have the durability gene reserved for a select few, including the former Portugal captain, Modric and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.