Harry Kane Joins Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo Club on Record-Equaling Night

It was just another occasion when Harry Kane went quietly into that good night, and certainly not because of a lack of contribution.

England’s understated—and remarkably still unheralded—record goalscorer added his 90th and 91st goals for the Three Lions, who completed the merged September–October break by beating Czechia 3–0 on Tuesday night.

Thomas Tuchel’s side are seemingly moving through the gears after their fateful retreat in Atlanta, with Kane and the phenomenal Jude Bellingham at the forefront of this tinkered, fearless iteration of the German’s team.

After competing fiercely with the world champion in defeat, England has twice dispatched an admittedly transitioning Czechia outfit and inflicted the heaviest defeat upon Croatia in its proud soccer history. Its performance in the 7–0 victory was undoubtedly the most impressive of Tuchel’s reign.

And Kane was an ever-present. His start to the 2026–27 season had returned six goals in seven appearances—a relatively disappointing return compared to last year’s haul of 61 in 51 for Bayern Munich—but there was clear indication during the first international break of the season that Kane, a Ballon d’Or favorite, hadn’t lost his touch.

He returns to Munich with a doubled goal tally for the campaign, having also joined an exclusive club of goalscorers during his record-equaling England appearance at Wembley.

Harry Kane Joins Esteemed Club After Scoring 91st International Goal

Kane has now joined legendary English goalkeeper Peter Shilton on 125 international caps, and will soon breach a record that’s stood since the Three Lions concluded Italia ’90 by losing to the hosts in the third-place playoff. Few expected Shilton’s record to ever be topped.

Kane will surely notch his 126th England cap when Tuchel’s team faces Croatia at Wembley on Nov. 12 before a mouth-watering rematch with Spain three days later.

After his brace against the Czechs, only Iranian icon Ali Daei has scored more international goals than England’s captain at a better ratio. Daei’s haul of 108 goals sits only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (146) and Lionel Messi (125), and he averaged 0.729 goals per match. Kane’s strike rate is now at 0.728.

The 33-year-old is now one of just seven players to score at least 90 international goals, moving clear of Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari, who found the back of the net 89 times for his country during a 13-year international career that ended in 1985.

The 10 Players With the Most International Goals of All Time

Rank	Player	Nation	Caps	Goals	Goals per Match
1.	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	234	146	0.62
2.	Lionel Messi	Argentina	207	125	0.6
3.	Ali Daei	Iran	148	108	0.73
4.	Sunil Chhetri	India	157	95	0.61
5.	Romelu Lukaku	Belgium	135	94	0.7
6.	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	170	92	0.54
7.	Harry Kane	England	125	91	0.73
8.	Mokhtar Dahari	Malaysia	142	89	0.63
9.	Ali Mabkhout	United Arab Emirates	115	85	0.74
10.	Ferenc Puskás	Hungary/Spain	89	84	0.94

Kane is edging closer to Robert Lewandowski and Romelu Lukaku’s respective hauls of 92 and 94, and their careers are both winding down. Amid his quest to emulate Tom Brady’s stellar twilight, Kane will back himself to bypass Messi in second after the great Argentinian bade a dignified farewell to the Albiceleste by scoring for the 125th time in a 3–0 victory over Benin.

Ronaldo’s staggering haul will take some beating, even if the 41-year-old could now struggle to reach a milestone of 150 following his dramatic fallout with Portugal’s new manager, Jorge Jesus. He’s currently four adrift.

Of the 10 highest goalscorers in international soccer history, none boast a better goal ratio than the legendary Ferenc Puskás, who helped revolutionize how the sport was perceived and played with Hungary’s “Mighty Magyars.”

Puskás scored 84 times in 89 matches at a strike rate of 0.94. He’s also recorded the fourth-most assists on the international stage (53).

Harry Kane Has His Eyes Set on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Goal Record

Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo — Ronaldo’s record will take some beating. | Burak Akbulut/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

When Kane became England’s record goalscorer in March 2023, he was scoring at a rate of 0.67 goals per match (54 in 81 caps). His strike rate has since surged, and his form at club level over the past 12 months suggests there is no sign of Kane slowing down anytime soon.

He reasserted his desire to play into his 40s after Tuesday’s 3–0 victory, and spoke about the possibility of breaking Ronaldo’s record haul: “That’s maybe the ceiling we’re talking about, see how far we can get," England’s striker told reporters postmatch.

“That is another 50-odd goals. It’s an awful long way away right now, but who knows?"

If Ronaldo doesn’t score again for Portugal, Kane would need another 56 goals to break his record and move onto 147.

At his current rate of 0.729 goals per match, it’d take the 33-year-old 202 caps to reach this milestone. That’s 77 more international matches, and given that England have averaged just shy of 14 matches per year since 2021, Kane would need to play every game for at least another five-and-a-half years, scoring at his current rate to top Ronaldo’s tally.

It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility, but it’d take a superhuman effort from a striker who’s seldom been regarded in the same stratosphere as the two supreme forces of their generation.

In Kane’s words: “It’s season by season for me... Let’s see if we get to 100 first and then we’ll go from there.”

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