Bayern Munich striker Kane grabbed both goals as Thomas Tuchel’s team made it eight wins from eight matches in Group K.
The 32-year-old says England will head to next summer’s tournament as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
“I think it’s as good as we’ve ever had,” Kane told ITV.
“I think when you look at the starting XI, you look at the players coming off the bench, we’re going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites.
“We have to accept that. We’ve been like that now for the last few tournaments, and that’s part and parcel of it.
“So we’ve been building, we’ve had a great year together with the new coach, and now we look forward to obviously a big 2026.
“I think we’ve set the standard now, especially in the last few camps, and we carried it on into this camp.
“It was an important win. You don’t want to finish with a loss at the end of the year and then have to wait until March to play again. We can go away and enjoy this now.”
Arber Hoxha was the hosts’ biggest threat and forced two big saves out of Dean Henderson, before Tuchel turned to his bench and added Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka to the mix.
The latter’s corner was touched on for Kane to prod England ahead in the 74th minute, with the national team’s all-time top scorer then nodding home substitute Marcus Rashford’s brilliant cross in the 82nd minute.
Tuchel made seven changes for the final fixture of 2025, including handing Jude Bellingham his first start since June and a debut to Jarell Quansah.Declan Rice was among the four players to keep their place and forced Thomas Strakosha into a fourth-minute save.
The England midfielder went on to slash a half-chance over but Albania, who were guaranteed second spot and the World Cup play-offs, posed more problems than any other Group K opponent.
Bellingham got back to superbly stop Hoxha just as he was about to pull the trigger and Elseid Hysaj lifted narrowly over from 20 yards.
England eventually regained composure and came close to taking the lead in the 37th minute, with Kane and Bellingham involved in a fine move that ended with Jarrod Bowen forcing a save out of Strakosha.
Quansah saw his header from the resulting corner held but struggled to contain Hoxha at the other end.
The livewire saw a shot blocked before the break, then was twice denied by Henderson at the start of the second half.
First he stopped Hoxha’s effort from the edge of the box, then saved another attempt – and Dan Burn’s blushes after a poor pass – having been found by an excellent low ball.
That huge let-off appeared to kick the visitors into gear.
Bellingham played an exquisite, clipped pass to Eberechi Eze, who controlled well in the box and forced Strakosha into a near-post save. The Real Madrid star soon struck into the ground from a knockdown as Tuchel turned to his bench.
Bellingham and Kane were joined on the field by Foden, something Tuchel said he would not do earlier this week, and fellow substitute Saka quickly caused problems.
The winger saw a low shot saved and mishit a cutback when England played on, and avoided a beer cup thrown from the stands, after Henderson’s strong tackle on Qazim Laci.
England were going for it and made the breakthrough in the 74th minute. Saka’s corner was nodded on at the front post by Naser Aliji, with Kane reacting to smuggle it home from close range.
The visitors kicked on from there and freshly introduced Rashford brilliantly swung in a cross from the left that Kane headed past Strakosha.
Bellingham looked annoyed to be withdrawn and Kane saw an attempt at a hat-trick blocked, with Rashford rifling wide in stoppage time after Burnley’s Armando Broja was taken off on a stretcher.
