The history of the England national football team, also known as the Three Lions, begins with the first representative international match in 1870 and the first officially-recognised match two years later. England primarily competed in the British Home Championship over the following decades. Although the FA had joined the international governing body of association football FIFA in 1906, the relationship with the British associations was fraught. In 1928, the British nations withdrew from FIFA, in a dispute over payments to amateur players. This meant that England did not enter the first three World Cups.
The Three Lions first entered the World Cup in 1950 and have since appeared in 16 of the 19 post-war finals tournaments to 2022. They won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, making them one of only eight nations to have won a FIFA World Cup. They reached the semi-finals on two other occasions, in 1990 and 2018. England have been eliminated from the World Cup quarter-final stage on seven occasions – more often than any other nation – and failed to qualify for the finals in 1974, 1978, and 1994.
England also compete in the UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League. At UEFA Euro 2020, they reached the final of the competition for the first time, finishing as runners-up, and finished in the same position at UEFA Euro 2024. England previously reached the semi-final of the competition in 1968 and 1996, with the latter held on home soil. England's most capped player is goalkeeper Peter Shilton and their top goalscorer is Harry Kane. As a constituent country of the United Kingdom, England are not a member of the International Olympic Committee and so are not eligible to compete in the Olympic Games.
Early years 1870–1900
England's first international representative matches were proposed by the FA Secretary Charles Alcock. On 3 November 1870, Alcock wrote to the Glasgow Herald that a match between Scotland and England would take place at the Kennington Oval, London. The first five friendly matches, which all took place at The Oval, were played against Scotland between 1870 and 1872. However, these are not considered full internationals by FIFA because the Scotland teams were composed entirely of London-based Scottish players.
+England v Scotland 1870–1872 Match Date Venue Score WinnerEngland v Scotland (1870) 5 March 1870The Oval, London1–1Draw19 November 1870The Oval, London1–0England v Scotland (1871) 25 February 1871The Oval, London1–1Draw17 November 1871The Oval, London2–1England v Scotland (1872)24 February 1872The Oval, London1–0 England's first FIFA-recognised international football match was a 0–0 draw against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow, on 30 November 1872 in front of 4,000 supporters. A Scottish FA had yet to be founded, therefore the match was organised by Queen's Park. An English sports newspaper, Bell's Life described the match as "one of the jolliest, one of the most spirited and most pleasant matches that have ever been played according to Association rules".
The first England team in this match was: Robert Barker (Hertfordshire Rangers), goal; Harwood Greenhalgh (Notts Club), three-quarter back; R. C. Welch (Harrow Chequers), half-back; F. Chappell (Oxford University), fly-kick; capt. Cuthbert Ottaway (Oxford University), middle; Charles Chenery (Crystal Palace), middle; Charles Clegg (Sheffield), middle; Arnold Kirke-Smith (Oxford University), middle; J. Brockbank (Oxford University) right side; W. J. Maynard (1st Surrey Rifles) left side; J. F. Morris (Barnes Club) left side. The following year, England beat Scotland 4–2 at the Kennington Oval, but in 1878, a resurgent Scotland thrashed England 7–2 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and followed this by beating England 6–1 at the Oval three years later.
The annual British International Championship, also known as the Home Championship, between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland began in 1884, with Scotland beating England 1–0 at the second Hampden Park and winning the competition's inaugural season. England's first success in the competition came in 1888, the same year that the Football League was formed, when they won all three of their matches, including a 5–0 away victory against Scotland.
1900–1939 In the early 20th century, as association football began to grow in Europe, the French Football Association proposed a European federation. The English FA replied that "The Council of the Football Association cannot see the advantages of such a Federation, but on all matters upon which joint action was desirable they would be prepared to confer." FIFA was founded in 1904, which England were not original members. By 1906, they had joined FIFA. However, the relationship with the British associations and FIFA was fraught. In 1928, the British nations withdrew from FIFA, in a dispute over 'broken time' payments to amateur players.
Over the coming decades, England primarily continued to competed against Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the Home Championship. This was partly due to the dominance of the United Kingdom in international football, and the problems of arranging continental internationals before the advent of air travel. England faced their first continental opposition in a tour of Central Europe in 1908, beating Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. England's first defeat outside the British Isles was a 4–3 loss to Spain in Madrid in May 1929.
The England national amateur football team was formed in 1901, when amateur players could no longer easily find places in the main national team. Great Britain, rather than England and other home nations, is represented in the Olympic Games. But the Great Britain teams that won gold medals in the 1908 and 1912 Olympic football tournaments were constituted by England national amateur team players. A similar team was knocked out early in 1920 Olympic football. No Great Britain team entered in 1924 after dispute concerning the regulation of professionalism.
As England were not members of FIFA at the time, England did not enter the first three World Cups. Amidst growing political turbulence in the 1930s, the British Foreign Office had influence over the national team, often determining who England could face. However, they did defeat the reigning World Cup champions Italy 3–2, in a match dubbed the "Battle of Highbury", in November 1934 which solidified the English's opinion that it was the best in the world. On 1 December 1937, Stanley Matthews scored a hat-trick in England's 5–4 victory over Czechoslovakia.
In May 1938, England toured Europe. The first match was against Germany in Berlin. Adolf Hitler wanted the game to be a showcase for Nazi propaganda. While the England players were getting changed, a Football Association official went into their dressing room, and told them that they had to make the Nazi salute during the playing of the German national anthem. Stanley Matthews later recalled: The FA official left, but returned saying he had a direct order from British Ambassador Sir Nevile Henderson that the players must make the salute, because the political situation between Britain and Germany was now so sensitive it needed "only a spark to set Europe alight". Reluctantly the England team raised their right arms, except for Stan Cullis who refused, and was subsequently dropped from the squad.
The game was watched by 110,000 people as well as senior Nazis, including Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels. England won the game 6–3. The game included a goal scored by Len Goulden that Matthews described as "the greatest goal I ever saw in football". According to Matthews:
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Three days later, Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany. The government immediately imposed a ban on the assembly of crowds resulting in the end of all league football matches apart from some unofficial wartime internationals played between 11 November 1939 and 5 May 1945, for which the largest crowd was 133,000 on 24 April 1944 and again on 14 April 1945 in matches at Hampden Park.
Post-war era: Walter Winterbottom (1946–1962) Between 27 May 1945 and 19 May 1946, England played seven unofficial Victory Internationals, an unofficial international match against Scotland on 24 August 1946 (2–2), and unofficial internationals against Switzerland and Switzerland 'B'.The Times, 21 August 1946, Sports in Brief
The FA rejoined FIFA in 1946, helped by a sense of European unity at the end of the war. The same year, new FA Secretary Sir Stanley Rous suggested that the FA needed an expert on the coaching staff. Walter Winterbottom was appointed as England Team Manager and Director of Coaching despite initial resistance from the FA Council, (although the team was picked by a committee). Winterbottom's reign began strongly with a series of lopsided victories, providing a false sense of security that the post-war England team had retained its early international preeminence. In 1948, England gained two notable victories, 4–0 against the reigning world champions Italy in Turin, and 10–0 against Portugal in Lisbon, after which the players involved were nicknamed the "lions of Lisbon".
England's fortunes then took a sharp decline, losing for the first time against non-UK opposition at home when they were defeated 2–0 by the Republic of Ireland in 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool. England came to their first World Cup in 1950 as one of the favourites to win. They made their World Cup finals debut with a 2–0 win against Chile. However, in the second match they suffered a 1–0 defeat to the United States, and failed to get beyond the first group stage after also losing 1–0 against Spain in their final game.
England's increasing tactical inferiority was highlighted on 25 November 1953, when Hungary came to Wembley. Fielding legendary players such as Ferenc Puskás, József Bozsik, Sándor Kocsis, Zoltán Czibor and Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungary outclassed England 6–3 – this was England's first home loss to opposition from outside of the British Isles. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7–1, which still stands as the worst defeat in England's history. Ivor Broadis scored England's goal. After the game, the bewildered England centre-half Syd Owen said, "It was like playing people from outer space." Winterbottom was subsequently granted the right to team selection alongside two members of the selection committee.
In the 1954 World Cup, two goals by Broadis saw him become the first England player to score two goals in a game at the World Cup finals. In the same match, Nat Lofthouse also scored twice in a 4–4 draw against Belgium. England reached the quarter-finals for the first time, but were eliminated 4–2 by Uruguay.
The Munich disaster and the 1958 World Cup
On 15 May 1957, Stanley Matthews made his last appearance for England, in a 4–1 defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen. He was 42 years and 104 days old and remains the oldest player to represent his country.
Hopes of success at the 1958 World Cup finals were hit by the Munich air disaster in February that year, which claimed the lives of eight Manchester United players. Three of the players who died were established England internationals. They were full-back Roger Byrne, who had never missed an England game since making his debut for the country in 1954, centre-forward Tommy Taylor, who had scored 16 goals in just 19 appearances for his country, and wing-half Duncan Edwards, who was then widely regarded as the finest player in English football at that time. Also killed was David Pegg, who had just made his debut for England and was tipped as the successor in the national team to Tom Finney, who retired from international action later in 1958. Winger Johnny Berry, who had been capped four times for England, survived the crash but was injured to such an extent that he never played football again.