Harry Kane has rewritten England's World Cup history at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, surpassing Gary Lineker's long-standing record for most goals scored by an England player in the tournament's history — and he did it against Panama.

Kane netted his 11th World Cup goal overall to move beyond Lineker's tally of 10, a record the former striker had held since the 1990 tournament. The strike was also Kane's third goal of the 2026 edition, ending a 150-minute drought since his opening-match double against Croatia.

How the record fell

It was Jude Bellingham who gave England the lead in the Panama match, breaking the deadlock before Kane doubled the advantage with a header in the 67th minute. That goal proved enough to etch his name into the record books.

Kane had arrived at the tournament in fine form, scoring a penalty — at the second attempt — and a free header against Croatia in the first half of England's opening fixture to begin his 2026 campaign with a brace.

Kane's World Cup career in numbers

The Bayern Munich striker's World Cup record is remarkable in its consistency. At the 2018 tournament, Kane won the Golden Boot with six goals: a hat-trick against Panama, a brace against Tunisia, and a penalty against Colombia. He added two more at the 2022 tournament — one in a 3-0 victory over Senegal, and a penalty against France in a 2-1 defeat.

Lineker, by comparison, scored six goals at the 1986 World Cup and four in 1990, amassing his total of 10 across two tournaments.

Golden Boot race and all-time rankings

The record-breaking goal also boosted Kane's standing in the 2026 Golden Boot race. With three goals, he sits just two behind Lionel Messi, who leads the standings with five. Remarkably, Messi has never won the Golden Boot despite his prolific World Cup record — he finished one goal short of winner Kylian Mbappé in 2022.

Lineker claimed the 1986 Golden Boot ahead of Diego Maradona, who scored five.

Kane is now joint eighth on the list of all-time World Cup top scorers, level with Hungary's Sándor Kocsis and Germany's Jürgen Klinsmann.