Why Harry Kane's next England appearance is going to be the most poetic moment of his career

The evening of November 12 promises to be a memorable one for Harry Kane, who will be expected to parade his Ballon d'Or trophy at Wembley before becoming England's all-time appearance record holder.

Kane became the first Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001 to win the Ballon d'Or, beating Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to claim football's most prestigious individual prize.

The 33-year-old deserves his flowers. For Bayern alone, Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions. And for England, he netted another 12, including six at the World Cup.

READ MORE: France Football chief reveals how close Ballon d'Or race was between Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe

After finishing the 2025-26 campaign with 73 goals for club and country, Kane has gone on to make a record-tying 125th appearance for his country, moving level with former goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

In fact, England's all-time top scorer netted twice in the 3-0 win over Czechia on October 6, a brace that took his overall international tally to 91 goals.

Harry Kane can break England appearance record next month

If Kane features for Thomas Tuchel's side in their Nations League clash against Croatia on November 12, he will overtake Shilton and become England's most-capped player with 126 appearances.

We can only presume he will show off his Ballon d'Or trophy to those in attendance, too - a truly defining moment in what has been a quite remarkable career.

Kane is set to make England history on November 12. Image credit: Getty

Kane's journey to the top has been far from straightforward. He was loaned out to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester before getting his big break at Tottenham under Tim Sherwood.

Taking to social media after winning the Ballon d'Or, he shared a poignant message. "Work hard in silence," he wrote, adding: "Let success be your noise."

Kane also mentioned his path to winning football's biggest individual prize in his acceptance speech.

"My journey wasn't straightforward," he said after accepting the award from Ronaldo Nazario. "I didn't go straight to the top, I had to experience a lot of loan moves and fight my way to get to where I am now."

READ MORE: Every word of Harry Kane's emotional 12-minute Ballon d'Or-winning speech

Harry Kane mentioned Tim Sherwood in his Ballon d'Or speech and for good reason

Former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood gave Kane his chance to shine in the Tottenham first-team, handing him his first-ever Premier League start.

Kane scored the opener in a 5-1 win over Sunderland on that day in April 2014 and the rest, as they say, is history. Kane went on to become Tottenham all-time top scorer before securing a move to Bayern Munich.

"He wasn't getting anywhere unfortunately," Sherwood told Sky Sports.

"He wasn't around the first-team squad, so I suppose it's a sliding doors moment that I managed to take over until the end of the season and I managed to give him a stage where he could perform."