Kane relishing chance to become England’s most-capped player

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England’s forward #09 Harry Kane walks on the pitch during warmups before the start of the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarter-final match between Norway and England at Miami Stadium in Miami on July 11, 2026. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

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Harry Kane is in line to move level with Peter Shilton as England’s most-capped player over the next fortnight, but is wondering why the record of 125 appearances for the national side is not higher.

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Kane is currently four short of Shilton’s haul but a quartet of Nations League fixtures against Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic (two) could allow him to equal the celebrated goalkeeper’s record.

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“Growing up, the dream was just to play for England and being most capped was never even in my mind at that stage,” said Kane, the Three Lions’ all-time top goalscorer.

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“The journey has been incredible to this stage, and we have achieved so much as a group and personally achieved so much and been in finals, taking the England team to a level that it hasn’t been for a long, long time.

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“So, to be four away from the all-time is just incredible and hopefully I am able to play the four games and then be back in November and be able to break it.”

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Kane is just one of 10 men to have reached a century of caps for England.

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By contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo has represented Portugal a world-leading 233 times, with contemporaries Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Luka Modric (Croatia) also having passed 200 caps for their respective countries.

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Kane’s former Tottenham team-mates Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Ivan Perisic are among a variety of modern-day players to have featured in over 150 internationals.

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“It makes you wonder why (not) as well with England,” added Kane. “Is it a cultural thing? Is it a mentality thing? Is it maybe the pressure from the outside?

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“Why have some of our great England players not reached that 160, 170, 180 (caps) like some of the other nations?

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“From my point of view, it will be an honour but ultimately there is still a long way to go and still hopefully a lot more caps I can achieve.”

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Despite his prolific record of 85 international goals, a major tournament victory is the one thing missing from Kane’s England career.

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A home Euros in two years’ time could present his final opportunity and he is targeting Saturday’s clash against world champions Spain at Wembley as a chance to lay down a marker.

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“Look, we’re playing the reigning European champions, the reigning world champions, so it doesn’t get any tougher in terms of who we’re going to face,” he added.

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“But ultimately if we want to be Nations League champions, European champions in a couple years, we’re going to have to beat teams like Spain and Croatia and the bigger nations. It’s good for us to test ourselves, test the group.”

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