England top scorers of all time: Harry Kane overtakes Wayne Rooney

Stuart Telford

• 26 Mar 2023 21:41 BST
• 4 min read

Harry Kane has overtaken Wayne Rooney as England's all-time leading goalscorer after finding the net against Italy in Euro 2024 qualifying on Thursday night.

Kane scored the 54th goal of his England career from the penalty spot, sending Gigio Donnarumma the wrong way, after Declan Rice had opened the scoring in Naples.

He followed that up a matter of days later with his 55th international goal as he tallied the opener against Ukraine at Wembley. Prior to that encounter, the Tottenham ace had received a golden boot in commemoration of becoming he country's all-time leading scorer.

Kane scored twice at the World Cup in Qatar having top-scored for England in UEFA qualifying, plundering a section joint-best 12 goals - something Atletico Madrid forward Memphis Depay, then of Barcelona matched with the Netherlands.

Tottenham Hotspur star Kane managed six at the World Cup in Russia in 2018 as England finished fourth.

Kane had been the 9/1 favourite to be top scorer in Qatar ahead of the big kick-off, and he headed to the Arabian Peninsula in fine form having hit 12 goals in 15 Premier League outings with Spurs in the first half of the season.

He is now up to 21 goals in the Premier League this season, and 23 in all competitions for Spurs.

The next highest-scoring active player for England is Raheem Sterling, who has 20 since making his Three Lions debut back in 2012. The Chelsea winger has some way to go before cracking the top 10, though.

Sterling - who joined the Blues in a £47.5 million (€56.2m) transfer from Manchester City this summer - would need 10 to draw level with Sir Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse and Alan Shearer, who round out the top 10.

READ: What is England's World Cup squad?

Shearer covered the World Cup for the BBC last winter alongside Gary Lineker, who was the top scorer at the 1986 Finals in Mexico with six goals even though England went out in the quarter-finals to that year's winners, Diego Maradona's Argentina.

Lineker and Kane are the only two Englishmen to win the World Cup Golden Boot, Kane matching his fellow former Tottenham man's six some 32 years later.

Rooney's had held the record since overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton in 2015, although only one of his 53 strikes was scored at a World Cup.

England's All-time Top 10 Goalscorers