Harry Kane is set to make his 126th appearance for England’s men when they host Croatia in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley on Thursday, November 12. The match kicks off at 7:45 p.m. in London, or 11:45 p.m. in Dubai. Thomas Tuchel confirmed on Wednesday that the captain would start. Kane enters the game level with Peter Shilton on 125 appearances, so taking the field would put him alone at the top of the men’s list. England also need a point to confirm their place in the quarter-finals.

The Football Association has planned a presentation involving Shilton before kick-off. Kane’s Ballon d’Or, which he won last month, will also be acknowledged at the stadium. Those ceremonies concern achievements from different parts of his career. The individual award recognises a season across club and international football. The appearance record, by comparison, measures how often he has represented the senior men’s team since his debut in 2015. It becomes his outright record only once he appears in the match, regardless of what is presented beforehand.

The distance between Kane’s first cap and his 125th

Kane made his senior debut as a substitute against Lithuania in March 2015 and scored shortly after coming on. He reached 125 caps last month in England’s 3–0 win over Czechia at Wembley. He scored twice that night, bringing his international total to 91. Wayne Rooney scored 53 goals in 120 appearances, and Kane moved past that scoring mark against Italy in March 2023. The 54th goal came on his 81st appearance. Since then he has added 37 goals across another 44 matches, a calculation from the FA’s totals that shows how productive the later part of his England career has been.

His goals are spread across qualification, finals and the Nations League. The FA records 25 in World Cup qualifying and 23 in European Championship qualifying. He has scored 14 at World Cup finals and seven at the European Championship finals, where his England total is level with Alan Shearer’s. The 21 goals across those two competitions have come in 36 appearances. England’s leading scorer therefore reaches the appearance milestone with a substantial tournament record as well as the qualifying goals that helped the team get there.

The Nations League accounts for 27 of Kane’s first 125 appearances and 12 of his international goals. Six of those came in the first four games of this campaign, the best total in the competition going into Matchday 5. He scored twice against Spain, twice in Croatia and twice against Czechia. That places the current run in its competitive context. England lost the Spain match 3–2 despite his goals, then won the other two. The scoring record and the standings can move differently, which is why a cap milestone can share the evening with a result of considerable practical importance to the team.

Thursday will again bring a major individual award for Kane to an England Nations League night at Wembley. In September 2018 he received the World Cup Golden Boot before England’s match against Spain, after scoring six goals in Russia. His later runs to European Championship finals offered a different measure of the team’s progress. England lost the EURO 2020 final to Italy on penalties after a 1–1 draw and the EURO 2024 final to Spain, 2–1. Reuters reported this week that Kane still regards winning a major trophy with England as his principal international ambition. The current group phase offers a chance to keep playing for this competition’s title, with a separate qualifying objective on Thursday and another group match still to come.

Why the Shilton record has lasted

Shilton made his England debut in November 1970, aged 21, and made his final appearance in 1990, aged 40. He had held the outright record since 1989 before Kane drew level. The FA counts 19 years and 224 days between his first and last caps, and 52 appearances at Wembley. Shilton played 17 World Cup matches across the 1982, 1986 and 1990 editions. His international career covered five clubs, from Leicester City through to Derby County. The figures explain why the old record has been difficult to reach even for players who became regulars early in their careers.

Kane has reached the same appearance total over about 11 and a half years. The two spans do not tell us which player made himself more available in any particular season. International schedules have changed, and the Nations League began long after Shilton’s playing career. They do explain two paths to 125 appearances. One runs from 1970 to 1990 and includes three World Cups for a goalkeeper. The other has moved through the Nations League as well as the traditional qualifying competitions and finals. Shilton’s participation in the ceremony makes that history visible before the new cap can be recorded on the pitch.

Kane has also scored 13 times for England in 2026. According to the FA, his 16 in 2021 is the only higher total by an England men’s player in a calendar year. Four of this year’s goals came against Croatia, two in the World Cup group game and two in the October Nations League match. England won the former 4–2. The two performances illustrate the immediate problem for Croatia. If their defenders focus on where Kane is standing when England first have the ball, they may lose track of where he will receive it when the attack reaches the area.

What England can take from the 7–0 in Rijeka

The October game finished 7–0, a record defeat for Croatia according to UEFA’s review. Kane and Bukayo Saka scored twice each. England have won the last four meetings between the sides and have scored 14 goals in four matches in this Nations League campaign. The October score is a clear indication of what happens when England can build attacks repeatedly against the same opponent. It does not establish how Croatia will defend at Wembley. Tuchel said on Wednesday that he expects a response and pointed to Croatia’s performance in the subsequent match against Spain, when they led before losing 2–1.

The question for England is how they create space for Kane if Croatia keep their central defenders close together. One possibility within England’s attacking structure is for Kane to receive away from the centre-backs while a wide player makes a run behind them. A defender who follows the striker can leave room for that run. A defender who holds position gives England a chance to progress the ball through the striker in front of the line. The value of the movement depends on the timing of the supporting run and how accurately the first pass is played, especially if Croatia’s midfield closes from behind.

Croatia can change the terms of the game by using possession of their own. Slaven Bilić is in his second spell as head coach. UEFA’s preview notes his confidence in the centre-back options of Joško Gvardiol and Luka Vušković, and recalls that Luka Modrić became the oldest goalscorer in Nations League history in September. The combination of younger defenders and an experienced midfielder gives Croatia routes out of pressure if England leave time for the first forward pass. A successful exit can also make England’s wide players turn and defend, interrupting the sequence of attacks that Croatia struggled to break in Rijeka.

The broader record between the countries includes 13 games, with eight England wins, two draws and three Croatia wins, according to the FA. One of Croatia’s wins came at Wembley in November 2007, when Bilić was also in charge. The 3–2 result in European Championship qualifying shows that the ground is not unfamiliar to Croatia’s history against England. The more recent record is stronger for the hosts. Those different reference points matter chiefly because the opening minutes of a new match can make the most recent score feel less relevant very quickly.

There is also a Wembley Nations League meeting in which Kane helped England recover from behind. In November 2018, Andrej Kramarić put Croatia ahead in the 57th minute. Jesse Lingard equalised in the 78th, and Kane scored the winner in the 85th from Ben Chilwell’s free kick. That 2–1 victory sent England to the inaugural Nations League Finals and relegated Croatia. It was a different kind of game from the one in Rijeka last month. England needed two goals in the closing stages, and the decisive chance came from a restart rather than a long spell of open-play dominance.

The June match in Dallas offers a more recent comparison. Kane put England ahead from the penalty spot, but Croatia twice erased an England lead before half-time. The teams went into the interval at 2–2 and England went on to win 4–2. In Rijeka the score reached seven with Croatia unable to reply. The same opponents and two goals for the same striker produced different demands on the rest of England’s team. The Dallas match is a reminder to look at what England do immediately after scoring, especially when Croatia retain enough possession to attack again.

One point secures a place in the last eight

Spain lead Group A3 with 12 points, followed by England on nine, Croatia on three and Czechia on zero. Spain have already qualified for the quarter-finals and visit Czechia on Thursday. England will join them if they avoid defeat at Wembley. Croatia have to win to retain a chance of reaching the last eight. UEFA also says Croatia can rule out direct relegation if they win and Czechia fail to beat Spain, or if Croatia draw and Czechia lose. Both of Thursday’s fixtures therefore matter to how the group will look going into Sunday.

England then travel to Spain on November 15. Spain won the first meeting 3–2, so England’s result against Croatia matters for their prospects of overtaking the leaders as well as reaching the knockout stage. UEFA lists head-to-head points, goal difference and goals among the tied teams ahead of overall group criteria. A group match can therefore change the final-day calculation in more than one way. For now the calculation within England’s control is simpler: one point at Wembley guarantees progression, while a win would preserve a route to first place regardless of the result in Czechia.

There are other selection decisions around the captain. Jude Bellingham is joined in the November squad by his younger brother Jobe for the first time, while Tuchel said Ezri Konsa and Djed Spence would miss the Croatia match. The team sheet will show how England balance changes around the established striker. A stable supply of passes to the front line and support when Croatia recover the ball will tell more about the performance than any resemblance to October’s winning margin. The 126th cap would be recorded at the start. The result and England’s qualification would still have to be settled over the match itself.

Sources

Archive photo: Harry Kane playing for England against Ghana at the 2026 World Cup on June 23. Bryan Berlin / WikiPortraits via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Talal Osman