Harry Kane’s 126th cap will make him England’s most-capped player, and a draw with Croatia puts England in the quarter-finals
Kane drew level with Peter Shilton’s 125 caps in October. Thursday’s game at Wembley is also England’s chance to seal a Nations League quarter-final with a game to spare.
Nov 12, 2026
Harry Kane becomes England’s most-capped men’s player against Croatia at Wembley on Thursday night. It will be his 126th appearance, one more than Peter Shilton, whose record has stood since 1990. Kane drew level with him at the same ground on 6 October and scored twice that night in the 3-0 win over Czechia.
He has 91 goals for England, already a record, and last month he became the first Englishman in 25 years to win the Ballon d’Or. Thomas Tuchel wants the trophy shown to the Wembley crowd on the same night. “It’s a big occasion to present the Ballon d’Or trophy to our fans,” the England coach said. Asked whether Kane was England’s greatest footballer, Tuchel replied: “He’s up there, of course.”
Kick-off is 7:45pm in London, which is 1:15am IST on Friday.
A draw is enough
There is a quarter-final place on the game as well. England have won three of their four games in Group A3 and are second on nine points, three behind Spain, who have won all four. Croatia have three points and Czechia none. A draw at Wembley takes England through, and that would leave Sunday’s trip to Madrid as a fight with Spain for first place.
Kane has six of England’s 14 goals in the group, including two in the 7-0 win over Croatia in Rijeka on 3 October. Bukayo Saka also scored twice that night, and Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers got the others. It was the heaviest defeat Croatia have ever suffered.
England’s team news
Saka will not get a chance to repeat it. He is injured and not in the squad. England are also short at centre-back. Marc Guéhi pulled out with a hip problem after coming off at half-time of Manchester City’s defeat at Nottingham Forest, and Dan Burn was called up in his place. Ezri Konsa is also missing the Croatia game, and Bournemouth’s James Hill has his first senior call-up.
Jobe Bellingham is in a senior England squad for the first time, alongside his brother Jude. Tuchel called it “a beautiful story”, and the younger Bellingham could make his debut.
Kane’s own debut came at Wembley in March 2015. He came on for Wayne Rooney against Lithuania and scored with a header within about 80 seconds.
Croatia start again
Croatia come to London with a new coach and a depleted squad. Slaven Bilić returned for a second spell in charge in July, after Zlatko Dalić stepped down following the World Cup. His Croatia beat Czechia 2-1 in his first game, with Luka Modrić scoring, and have lost to Spain twice and England since.
Bilić has lost five players since he named his squad. Josip Šutalo, Marin Pongračić, Kristijan Jakić, Andrej Kramarić and Franjo Ivanović have all pulled out injured. Modrić, now 41, is still the captain.