England national football team
The England national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England.

England are one of the two oldest national teams in football; alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872. England's home ground is Wembley Stadium, London, and their headquarters is at St George's Park, Burton upon Trent. The teams current manager is Gareth Southgate. Although part of the United Kingdom, England has always had a representative side that plays in major professional tournaments, though not in the Olympic Games, as the IOC has always recognised United Kingdom representative sides.

England contest the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, which alternate biennially. Any one of these tournament victories after 1992 would mean England would also contest the FIFA Confederations Cup, however they are yet to qualify for this tournament. In contesting for the World Cup seventeen times over the past sixty-four years, England won the 1966 World Cup, when they hosted the finals, and finished fourth in 1990. England have never won the European Championship – after fifteen attempts over fifty-six years – with their best performances being semi-finals appearances at the 1968 and 1996 Championships, the latter of which they hosted.

History

thumb|left|The England team before playing a match against Scotland at Richmond in 1893.
The England national football team is the joint-oldest in the world; it was formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on 5 March 1870, having been organised by the Football Association. A return fixture was organised by representatives of Scottish football teams on 30 November 1872.

This match, played at Hamilton Crescent in Scotland, is viewed as the first official international football match, because the two teams were independently selected and operated, rather than being the work of a single football association. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three Home Nations—Scotland, Wales and Ireland—in the British Home Championship.

At first, England had no permanent home stadium. They joined FIFA in 1906 and played their first ever games against countries other than the Home Nations on a tour of Central Europe in 1908. Wembley Stadium was opened in 1923 and became their home ground. The relationship between England and FIFA became strained, and this resulted in their departure from FIFA in 1928, before they rejoined in 1946. As a result, they did not compete in a World Cup until 1950, in which they were beaten in a 1–0 defeat by the United States, failing to get past the first round in one of the most embarrassing defeats in the team's history.

Their first ever defeat on home soil to a foreign team was a 0–2 loss to the Republic of Ireland, on 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park. A 6–3 loss in 1953 to Hungary, was their second defeat by a foreign team at Wembley. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7–1. This stands as England's largest ever defeat. After the game, a bewildered Syd Owen said, "it was like playing men from outer space". In the 1954 FIFA World Cup, England reached the quarter-finals for the first time, and lost 4–2 to reigning champions Uruguay.

thumbnail|right|Queen Elizabeth II presenting England captain Bobby Moore with the Jules Rimet trophy following England's 4–2 victory over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final
Although Walter Winterbottom was appointed as England's first ever full-time manager in 1946, the team was still picked by a committee until Alf Ramsey took over in 1963. The 1966 FIFA World Cup was hosted in England and Ramsey guided England to victory with a 4–2 win against West Germany after extra time in the final, during which Geoff Hurst famously scored a hat-trick. In UEFA Euro 1968, the team reached the semi-finals for the first time, being eliminated by Yugoslavia.

England qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as reigning champions, and reached the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by West Germany. England had been 2–0 up, but were eventually beaten 3–2 after extra time. They failed in qualification for the 1974, leading to Ramsey's dismissal, and 1978 FIFA World Cups. Under Ron Greenwood, they managed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain (the first time competitively since 1962); despite not losing a game, they were eliminated in the second group stage.

The team under Bobby Robson fared better as England reached the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, losing 2–1 to Argentina in a game made famous by two goals by Maradona for very contrasting reasons, before losing every match in UEFA Euro 1988. They next went on to achieve their second best result in the 1990 FIFA World Cup by finishing fourth – losing again to West Germany in a semi-final finishing 1–1 after extra time, then 3–4 in England's first penalty shoot-out.

Despite losing to Italy in the third place play-off, the members of the England team were given bronze medals identical to the Italians’. The England team of 1990 were welcomed home as heroes and thousands of people lined the streets, for a spectacular open-top bus parade. However, the team did not win any matches in UEFA Euro 1992, drawing with tournament winners Denmark, and later with France, before being eliminated by host nation Sweden.

The 1990s saw four England managers, each in the role for a relatively brief period. Graham Taylor was Robson's successor, but resigned after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At UEFA Euro 1996, held in England, Terry Venables led England, equalling their best performance at a European Championship, reaching the semi-finals as they did in 1968.

He resigned following investigations into his financial activities."Venables is also the only England manager ever to resign from his post because of the muddy personal details set to be showcased in a high-profile trial related to financial irregularities."  His successor, Glenn Hoddle, similarly left the job for non-footballing reasons after just one international tournament – the 1998 FIFA World Cup — in which England were eliminated in the second round again by Argentina and again on penalties (after a 2–2 draw). Following Hoddle's departure, Kevin Keegan took England to UEFA Euro 2000, but performances were disappointing and he resigned shortly afterwards.

thumb|right|The England team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Sven-Göran Eriksson took charge of the team between 2001 and 2006, and was the first non-English manager of England. He guided England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. England lost only five competitive matches during the Swede's tenure, and England rose to number four in the world ranking under his guidance. Eriksson's contract was extended by the Football Association by two years, to include UEFA Euro 2008. However, it was terminated by them at the 2006 FIFA World Cup's conclusion.

Steve McClaren was then appointed as head coach, and was sacked unanimously by The Football Association on 22 November 2007, after failing to get the team to Euro 2008. The following month, he was replaced by a second foreign manager, Italian Fabio Capello, whose experience included stints at Juventus and Real Madrid.

England won all but one of their qualifying games for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but at the tournament itself, England drew their opening two games; this led to questions about the team's spirit, tactics and ability to handle pressure. They progressed to the next round, however, where they were beaten 4–1 by Germany, their heaviest defeat in a World Cup finals tournament match.

In February 2012, Capello resigned from his role as England manager, following a disagreement with the FA over their request to remove John Terry from team captaincy after accusations of racial abuse concerning the player. Following this, there was media speculation that Harry Redknapp would take the job. However, on 1 May 2012, Roy Hodgson was announced as the new manager, just six weeks before UEFA Euro 2012. England managed to finish top of their group, winning two and drawing one of their fixtures, but exited the Championships in the quarter-finals via a penalty shoot-out, this time to Italy.

In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, England were eliminated at the group stage for the first time since the 1958 World Cup, and the first time at a major tournament since Euro 2000. England's points total of one from three matches was its worst ever in the World Cup, obtaining one point from drawing against Costa Rica in their last match. England qualified for UEFA Euro 2016, with 10 wins from 10 qualifying matches, but were ultimately eliminated in the Round of 16, losing 2–1 to Iceland, for the first time since the 2010 World Cup. Hodgson resigned as manager immediately, and just under a month later was replaced by Sam Allardyce. After only 67 days Allardyce resigned from his managerial post by mutual agreement, after alleged breach of rules of the FA, making him the shortest serving permanent England manager. However, because his sole game as England manager was a 1-0 victory against Slovakia, he left the job with a 100% win rate, the best any England manager in history has ever had.

That same day, 27 September 2016, Gareth Southgate left his role as manager for the England under-21 team and was put in temporary charge of the national team until 15 November that year. On 30 November 2016, Southgate was appointed as permanent England manager on a four-year contract.

Team image

Media coverage
All England matches are broadcast with full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live. From the 2008–09 season until the 2017–18 season, England's home and away qualifiers, and friendlies both home and away are broadcast live on ITV (often with the exception of STV, the ITV affiliate in central and northern Scotland). England's away qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup were shown on Setanta Sports until that company's collapse. As a result of Setanta Sports's demise, England's World Cup qualifier in Ukraine on 10 October 2009 was shown in the United Kingdom on a pay-per-view basis via the internet only. This one-off event was the first time an England game had been screened in such a way. The number of subscribers, paying between £4.99 and £11.99 each, was estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000 and the total number of viewers at around 500,000.

Colours
thumb|upright=0.8|England shirt during 1966 World Cup final.
England's traditional home colours are white shirts, navy blue shorts and white or black socks. The team has periodically worn an all-white kit.

Although England's first away kits were blue, England's traditional away colours are red shirts, white shorts and red socks. In 1996, England's away kit was changed to grey shirts, shorts and socks. This kit was only worn three times, including against Germany in the semi-final of Euro 96 but the deviation from the traditional red was unpopular with supporters and the England away kit remained red until 2011, when a navy blue away kit was introduced. The away kit is also sometimes worn during home matches, when a new edition has been released to promote it.

England have occasionally had a third kit. At the 1970 World Cup England wore a third kit with pale blue shirts, shorts and socks against Czechoslovakia. They had a kit similar to Brazil's, with yellow shirts, yellow socks and blue shorts which they wore in the summer of 1973. For the World Cup in 1986 England had a third kit of pale blue, imitating that worn in Mexico sixteen years before and England retained pale blue third kits until 1992, but they were rarely used.

Umbro first agreed to manufacture the kit in 1954 and since then has supplied most of the kits, the exceptions being from 1959–1965 with Bukta and 1974–1984 with Admiral. Nike purchased Umbro in 2008 and took over as kit supplier in 2013 following their sale of the Umbro brand.

Kit evolution
WC 1950WC 1954WC 1958WC 1962vs Chile and Spain  vs United States All the matchesAll the matches vs Argentinavs Hungaryvs BulgariaWC 1966Euro 1968WC 1970vs Uruguay, Mexico, France, and Portugal  vs Argentina vs West Germany vs Yugoslavia and USSR  vs Romania and Brazil  vs Czechoslovakia  vs West GermanyEuro 1980WC 1982WC 1986Euro 1988WC 1990, Euro 1992Euro 1996 All the matches  vs Czechoslovakia, Kuwait, and Spain  vs West Germany and France vs all except Argentina vs Argentina  All the matches  All the matchesvs all except Germany  vs GermanyWC 1998Euro 2000WC 2002Euro 2004vs Tunisiaand Romania  vs Argentina vs Colombia  vs Romania and Portugal  vs Germany vs Sweden, Denmark, and Brazil  vs Argentina and Nigeriavs all except Croatia  vs CroatiaWC 2006WC 2010Euro 2012WC 2014Euro 2016vs all exceptSweden  vs Sweden vs United States and Algeria  vs Slovenia and Germany  vs all except Sweden  vs Sweden  All the matchesvs all except Slovakia  vs Slovakia

Kit manufacturer
ManufacturerPeriod Umbro 1954–1961 Bukta 1959–1965 Umbro 1965–1974 Admiral 1974–1984 Umbro 1984–2013 Nike2013–

Logo
The motif of the England national football team has three lions passant guardant, the emblem of King Richard I, who reigned from 1189 to 1199. The lions, often blue, have had minor changes to colour and appearance. Initially topped by a crown, this was removed in 1949 when the FA was given an official coat of arms by the College of Arms; this introduced ten Tudor roses, one for each of the regional branches of the FA. Since 2003, England top their logo with a star to recognise their World Cup win in 1966; this was first embroidered onto the left sleeve of the home kit, and a year later was moved to its current position, first on the away shirt.

Home stadium

thumb|right|Wembley Stadium during a friendly match between England and Germany
For the first fifty years of their existence, England played their home matches all around the country. They initially used cricket grounds before later moving on to football clubs' stadiums. The original Empire Stadium was built in Wembley, London, for the British Empire Exhibition.

England played their first match at the stadium in 1924 against Scotland and for the next 27 years Wembley was used as a venue for matches against Scotland only. The stadium later became known simply as Wembley Stadium and it became England's permanent home stadium during the 1950s. In October 2000, the stadium closed its doors, ending with a defeat.

This stadium was demolished during the period of 2002–2003, and work began to completely rebuild it. During this time, England played at a number of different venues across the country, though by the time of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, this had largely settled down to having Manchester United F.C.'s Old Trafford stadium as the primary venue, with Newcastle United F.C.'s St. James' Park used on occasions when Old Trafford was unavailable.

They returned to the new Wembley Stadium in March 2007. The stadium is now owned by the Football Association, via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited.

Coaching staff

 Manager  Gareth Southgate Assistant Manager  Steve Holland First Team Coach vacant Goalkeeping Coach  Martyn Margetson First-Team Doctor  Ian Beasley Fitness Coach  Chris Neville Masseur  Mark Sertori Physiotherapist  Gary Lewin

Players
For all past and present players who have appeared for the national team, see List of England international footballers (alphabetical)

Current squad
 The following 24 players were called up to face  on 27 March 2018:
Caps and goals correct as of: 27 March 2018, after the match against .Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the England squad within the last twelve months.
 

INJ Withdrew due to injury

Results and fixtures

2017

2018

Records

Most capped playersUpdated 9 October 2017.Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.thumb|right|Goalkeeper Peter Shilton is the most capped player in the history of England with 125 caps
Players with an equal number of caps are ranked in chronological order of reaching the milestone.
#NameCareerCapsGoalsPosition1Peter Shilton1970–19901250GK2Wayne Rooney2003–201611953FW3David Beckham1996–200911517MF4Steven Gerrard2000–201411421MF5Bobby Moore1962–19731082DF6Ashley Cole2001–20141070DF7Bobby Charlton1958–197010649MFFrank Lampard1999–201410629MF9Billy Wright1946–19591053DF10Bryan Robson1980–19919026MF11Michael Owen1998–20088940FW12Kenny Sansom1979–1988861DF13Gary Neville1995–2007850DF14Ray Wilkins1976–1986843MF15Rio Ferdinand1997–2011813DF16Gary Lineker1984–19928048FW17John Barnes1983–19957911MF18Stuart Pearce1987–1999785DFJohn Terry2003–2012786DF20Terry Butcher1980–1990773DF21Tom Finney1946-19587630FW

Top goalscorersUpdated 9 October 2017.thumb|right|Wayne Rooney is the top goalscorer in the history of England with 53 goalsPlayers in bold are still active, at least at club level.#NameCareerGoalsCapsPositionAverage1Wayne Rooney2003–201653119FW0.44542Bobby Charlton1958–197049106MF0.46223Gary Lineker1984–19924880FW0.60004Jimmy Greaves1959–19674457FW0.77195Michael Owen1998–20084089FW0.44946Nat Lofthouse1950–1958 3033FW0.9090Alan Shearer1992–20003063FW0.4762Tom Finney1946–1958 3076FW0.39479Vivian Woodward1903–19112923FW1.2609Frank Lampard1999–201429106MF0.273511Steve Bloomer1895–19072823FW1.217412David Platt1989–19962762MF0.435513Bryan Robson1981–19912690MF0.288914Geoff Hurst1965–19722449FW0.489815Stan Mortensen1947–19532325FW0.920016Tommy Lawton1938–19482223FW0.9565Peter Crouch2005–20102242FW0.523818Mick Channon1972–19772146FW0.4565Kevin Keegan1972–19822163FW0.3333Steven Gerrard2000–201421114MF0.1842

Competitive recordFor the all-time record of the national team against opposing nations, see the team's all-time record pageFIFA World Cup

England first appeared at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and have subsequently qualified for a total of 15 FIFA World Cup Finals tournaments, tied for sixth best by number of appearances. They are also tied for sixth by number of wins, alongside France and Spain. The national team is one of eight national teams to have won at least one FIFA World Cup title. The England team won their first and only World Cup title in 1966. The tournament was played on home soil and England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final. In 1990, England finished in fourth place, losing 2–1 to host nation Italy in the third place play-off, after losing on penalties to champions West Germany in the semi-final. The team has also reached the quarter-final on two recent occasions in 2002 and 2006. Previously, they reached this stage in 1954, 1962, 1970 and 1986.

England failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1974, 1978 and 1994. The team's earliest exit in the competition itself was its elimination in the first round in 1950, 1958 and most recently in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, after being defeated in both their opening two matches for the first time, versus Italy and Uruguay in Group D. In 1950, four teams remained after the first round, in 1958 eight teams remained and in 2014 sixteen teams remained. In 2010, England suffered its most resounding World Cup defeat (4–1 to Germany) in the Round of 16, after drawing with the United States and Algeria and defeating Slovenia 1–0 in the group stage.

 Champions   Runners-up   Third place  
 Fourth place  

FIFA World Cup recordFIFA World Cup qualification recordManager(s)YearRoundPosition * 1930Did not enter–––––– 1934–––––– 1938–––––– 1950Group stage8th of 133102223300143Winterbottom 1954Quarter-finals7th of 163111883300114 1958Group stage11th of 164031454310155 1962Quarter-finals8th of 164112564310162 1966Champions1st of 166510113Qualified as hostsRamsey 1970Quarter-finals8th of 16420244Qualified as defending champions Ramsey 1974Did not qualify412134 19786501154Revie 1982Second group stage6th of 245320618413138Greenwood 1986Quarter-finals8th of 245212738440212Robson 1990Fourth place4th of 24733(1*)1866330100 1994Did not qualify10532269Taylor 1998Round of 169th of 32421*1748611152Hoddle  2002 Quarter-finals6th of 325221638521166 Keegan, Wilkinson, ErikssonKevin Keegan and Howard Wilkinson managed one qualifying match each: Eriksson managed the remainder of qualification and the finals campaign. 20067th of 32532(1*)06210811175Eriksson 2010Round of 1613th of 3241213510901346Capello 2014Group stage26th of 3230122410640314Hodgson 2018Qualified10820183Allardyce, SouthgateSam Allardyce managed one qualifying match: Gareth Southgate managed the remainder of the qualification and is currently the manager for the finals campaign. 2022To be determinedTBDTotal1 title14/2162262016795610873241127167*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Darker color indicates win, normal color indicates lost.**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won.
***Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.
****England played all of their 2002 matches in Japan.

UEFA European Championship

England have achieved moderate success  at the UEFA European Championship, having finished in third place in 1968 and reached the semi-final in 1996. England hosted Euro 96 and have qualified for nine UEFA European Championship finals tournaments, tied for fourth best by number of appearances. The team has also reached the quarter-final on two recent occasions, in 2004 and 2012. The team's worst result in the competition was a first-round elimination in 1980, 1988, 1992 and 2000. The team did not enter in 1960, and they failed to qualify in 1964, 1972, 1976, 1984, and 2008.

UEFA European Championship recordUEFA European Championship qualification recordManager(s)YearRoundPosition * 1960Did not enter – – – – – – 1964Did not qualify201136 Winterbottom, RamseyEngland were defeated by France in a two-legged elimination round. Ramsey took over from Winterbottom between the two legs. 1968Third place3rd of 42101218611186 Ramsey 1972Did not qualifyAlthough England did not qualify for the finals, they reached the last eight of the competition. Only the last four teams progressed to the finals.8521166Ramsey 1976Did not qualify6321113 Revie 1980Group stage6th of 83111338710225 Greenwood 1984Did not qualify8521233Robson 1988Group stage7th of 83003276510191 1992Group stage7th of 8302112633073 Taylor 1996Semi-finals3rd of 16523(2*)083Qualified as hosts Venables  2000Group stage11th of 1631025610442165 Hoddle, KeeganHoddle managed the first three qualifiers, while Keegan managed the remainder of qualification and the finals campaign. 2004Quarter-finals5th of 16421(1*)11068620145 Eriksson  2008Did not qualify12723247 McClaren  2012Quarter-finals5th of 16422(1*)0538530175Capello, HodgsonCapello managed the qualification campaign. He resigned before the tournament and was replaced by Hodgson. 2016Round of 1612th of 24412144101000313 Hodgson 2020To be determined  TBDTotalThird place (x2)9/153110111040359662241020858

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Minor tournaments
YearRoundPositionGPWD*LGSGA 1964 Taça de Nações Group stage 3rd301227 1976 USA Bicentennial Cup Tournament Group stage 2nd320164 1985 Rous Cup One match 2nd100101 1985 Ciudad de México Cup Tournament Group stage 3rd200213 1985 Azteca 2000 Tournament Group stage 2nd210131 1986 Rous Cup Winners, one match 1st110021  1987 Rous Cup Group stage 2nd202011  1988 Rous Cup Winners, group stage 1st211021  1989 Rous Cup Winners, group stage 1st211020 1991 England Challenge Cup Winners, group stage 1st211053 1993 U.S. Cup Group stage 4th301225 1995 Umbro Cup Group stage 2nd311167 1997 Tournoi de France Winners, group stage 1st320131 1998 King Hassan II International Cup Tournament Group stage 2nd211010 2004 FA Summer Tournament Winners, group stage 1st211072Total6 titles331210114337

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Honours and achievements
thumb|The England squad (red) which won the 1966 World Cup final against West Germany (white)
Major:

 FIFA World Cup
Winners (1): 1966
Fourth place (1): 1990

 UEFA European Championship
Third place (1): 1968
Semi-finalists (1): 1996

Regional:

 British Home Championship
Winners (54): (including 20 shared)

 Rous Cup:
Winners (3): 1986, 1988, 1989

Minor:

 FA Summer Tournament
Winners (1): 2004

 Tournament of FranceWinners (1): 1997

 England Challenge Cup
Winners (1): 1991

Other:

 FIFA Fair Play Trophy:
Winners (2): 1990, 1998

Unofficial:

 Unofficial Football World Championships:
Matches as Champion: 88Reigns as Champion: 21

See also

 Great Britain Olympic football team
 United Kingdom national football team
 England women's national football team
 England national football team all-time record

Notes

References

External links

 Official website at the FA's website
 England at UEFA
 England at FIFA
 A complete database of England Internationals since 1872 by englandstats.com

 
Football
Category:European national association football teams
Category:FIFA World Cup-winning countries
Football
Category:Football teams in England
Category:1872 establishments in England