The England national football team did not enter the first three FIFA World Cup tournaments as they were not members of FIFA, but have entered all 20 subsequent ones, beginning with that of 1950. They have failed to qualify for the tournament on three occasions – 1974 (West Germany), 1978 (Argentina) and 1994 (United States) – and have failed to advance from the group stage on three occasions: in 1950 (Brazil), 1958 (Sweden) and 2014 (Brazil). Their best performance is winning the cup as the host nation in 1966; they have also reached the semi-finals on another three occasions, most recently in the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America where they achieved their second best historical performance to finish third, also resulting in their best ever World Cup finish on foreign soil. They previously finished in fourth place in 1990 in Italy, and in 2018 in Russia. The team has also reached the quarter-finals on seven other occasions.

History

Brazil 1950

England's first qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup doubled as the 1950 British Home Championship. The series began for England on 15 October 1949 at Ninian Park, Cardiff, against Wales. Stan Mortensen gave England the lead after 22 minutes, and seven minutes later Jackie Milburn doubled the lead. This was the first goal of Milburn's hat trick, which left England 4–0 up with 20 minutes to play. Mal Griffiths scored a consolation goal for Wales ten minutes from time, but England held on for a comfortable victory.

A month later, England welcomed Ireland to Maine Road, and it began well for the home side as Jack Rowley scored inside six minutes. England were already 6–0 up, thanks to Jack Froggatt, two for Stan Pearson, Mortensen and a second from Rowley, by the time Ireland struck back through Samuel Smyth after 55 minutes. Rowley added two more goals to his tally in the three minutes following Smyth's goal, leaving the score at 8–1 after an hour. The match ended 9–2, with Pearson scoring England's ninth, and Bobby Brennan scoring for Ireland.

In May 1950, England travelled to Hampden Park to face Scotland, who were also undefeated after their games against Ireland and Wales. With the top two from the group qualifying, both teams were guaranteed progression to the finals, and the game was solely for the honour of winning the British Home Championship, and the seeding advantage to be enjoyed upon reaching Brazil. A goal from Roy Bentley gave England the victory and top spot in the group.

England were seeded for the finals, which meant they were the favourites to progress from Group 2, which also contained Spain, Chile and the United States. They began against Chile in Rio de Janeiro and won 2–0, with goals from Mortensen and Wilf Mannion.

Their troubles began four days later when they faced the Americans in Belo Horizonte, as Joe Gaetjens scored the only goal of the match to give the United States an unlikely victory, which has gone down as one of the World Cup's greatest upsets. A myth arose that the English newspapers were so confident of an English victory that when the result was telegrammed back, they assumed a misprint and printed the score as 10–1 in England's favour. However, this has proven to be untrue.

This left England needing to beat Spain in Rio to stand any chance of qualifying. Spain's Zarra scored the only goal of the game, eliminating England from the competition.

Switzerland 1954

England's qualifying group for the 1954 edition also constituted the 1953–54 British Home Championship. They played Wales at Ninian Park as their first match once again, and the 4–1 result was the same as four years earlier. Ivor Allchurch gave the home side a half-time lead, but England scored four within eight minutes of the restart with two each for Dennis Wilshaw and Nat Lofthouse.

At Goodison Park against Northern Ireland, Harold Hassall scored for England after ten minutes, and although Eddie McMorran equalised just before the hour mark, further goals from Hassall and Lofthouse completed a comfortable 3–1 win for England.

With the top two in the group qualifying for the finals, the final game between England and Scotland, at Hampden Park, settled nothing except the placings within the group, despite Scotland having dropped a point with a 3–3 draw at home to Wales. Allan Brown put the home side ahead after just seven minutes, but it was all square again thanks to Ivor Broadis just four minutes later. Johnny Nicholls gave England the lead for the first time just after half time, and they extended the lead with Ronnie Allen's 68th-minute goal. Jimmy Mullen added a fourth seven minutes from time, and although Willie Ormond scored a consolation for Scotland, England topped the competition for the second time in a row.

England were drawn in Group 4 for the finals, with Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. In an odd twist, unique to the 1954 tournament, England and Italy, as the two seeded teams in the group, did not have to play each other.

England's first game in Switzerland was against Belgium in Basel, and they suffered a shock as Pol Anoul put the Belgians into the lead after just five minutes. Two goals from Broadis and one from Lofthouse gave England a 3–1 lead just after the hour, but Henri Coppens hit back four minutes later before Anoul levelled the scores again. Drawn matches in the group stage went to extra time, and in the added period Lofthouse added a fourth for England, but Jimmy Dickinson scored an own goal three minutes later to leave the final score at 4–4.

England's second group game was against the hosts Switzerland in Bern. This proved to be an easier game for the Three Lions, and they scored one goal in each half, from Mullen and Wilshaw, to give them a comfortable 2–0 win. England progressed as group winners, along with Switzerland, who won a play-off against Italy.

England faced the defending champions Uruguay, the winners of Group 3, in the quarter-finals. Carlos Borges gave the South Americans the lead inside five minutes, but Lofthouse put England back on terms ten minutes later. Obdulio Varela and Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored further goals for Uruguay, but Tom Finney made the score 3–2 in the 67th minute. However, Javier Ambrois restored the two-goal lead with twelve minutes to play and England were eliminated after losing 4–2.

Sweden 1958

For the first time, England had to play against countries other than the Home Nations to reach the Finals in Sweden. They were drawn against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark. In the qualifying round, England won three out of the four games and drew the other. Four months before the World Cup, Manchester United players Roger Byrne, Duncan Edwards, David Pegg and Tommy Taylor all died as a result of the Munich air disaster. At the finals, which is the only tournament to have seen all Home Nations take part, the Home Nations were all drawn in different groups.

England were drawn against the Soviet Union (2–2), Brazil (0–0) and Austria (2–2), who finished third in the 1954 World Cup. At the end of the group stage, Soviet Union and England each had three points, and had scored four goals and conceded four goals. This meant there was a play-off to decide the second-placed team in the group, the winner to qualify. England lost the play-off 1–0 and were thus knocked out. The only consolation for England was that they were the only team to play the eventual winners Brazil and not lose.

Chile 1962

The third World Cup which took place in South America, saw England qualify from the group, which contained Portugal and Luxembourg, defeating Luxembourg on both occasions, and defeating Portugal at home, and drawing in Lisbon.

At the finals, England were drawn in a group with Hungary, Argentina and Bulgaria. England defeated Argentina 3–1, thanks to goals from Ron Flowers, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves, before playing out a goalless draw with Bulgaria, and a 2–1 defeat to Hungary.

England finished in second place behind Hungary and played the winners of group 3, defending champions Brazil, in the quarter-finals. Brazil scored first through Garrincha, before an equaliser for Gerry Hitchens before half time. However, second-half goals from Garrincha and Vavá meant Brazil won the game 3–1, and eliminated England from the competition. This defeat was manager Walter Winterbottom's last game in charge. Winterbottom had led England to four World Cup Finals. From May 1963, Alf Ramsey became the manager of England.

England 1966

In the 1966 World Cup Finals, England used their home advantage and, under Ramsey, won their first, and only, World Cup title. England played all their games at Wembley Stadium in London, which became the last time that the hosts were granted this privilege. England did not concede a goal in any of their first four matches at the tournament, starting with a 0–0 draw in the opening game against former champions Uruguay, followed by 2–0 wins over France and Mexico to see them finish top of their group and qualify for the quarter-finals.

There they faced Argentina, in a very fierce game that saw Argentinian Antonio Rattín sent off by German referee Rudolf Kreitlein. Geoff Hurst scored the only goal of the game, and only his second in international football, to give England the win and a place in the semi-finals, where they faced Portugal. Two goals from Bobby Charlton gave England the lead going into the final 10 minutes of the match, before Eusebio scored from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute, the first goal England had conceded in the tournament. The final pitted England against West Germany, who took the lead in the 12th minute through Helmut Haller. Hurst equalised six minutes later, before Martin Peters gave England the lead with 12 minutes left to play; however, in the 89th minute, Wolfgang Weber levelled the scores again to take the match to extra time. In the additional period, Hurst scored twice more, the first crashing down off the crossbar before being given by linesman Tofiq Bahramov, who controversially deemed the ball to have entirely crossed the line. Hurst's three goals made him the first player to score a hat-trick in a FIFA World Cup final, a feat that was only matched in the 2022 final by French footballer Kylian Mbappé, though Mbappé's hat-trick included two penalties.

Mexico 1970

1970 saw the first World Cup finals to take place in North America and England qualified automatically for the tournament by winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup. England were drawn in a group with Romania, former world champions Brazil and Czechoslovakia. Each of the matches only saw one goal, with England defeating Romania and Czechoslovakia, and losing to Brazil, progressing them to the quarter-final second in their group. The quarter-final saw a repeat of the 1966 final, with England playing West Germany. England were hampered by the fact that first-choice goalkeeper Gordon Banks was ill, and Peter Bonetti played instead. England led 2–0 with goals by Alan Mullery and Martin Peters, but in the 70th minute, Franz Beckenbauer pulled one goal back for West Germany.

After Beckenbauer's goal, Ramsey substituted Bobby Charlton, who overtook Billy Wright as England's most capped player ever, with caps totalling 106. Uwe Seeler equalised for the Germans in the 81st minute, thereby taking the game into extra time. During extra time, Gerd Müller scored the winning goal for West Germany which saw the German side win 3–2. This turned out to be Charlton's last game for England.

West Germany 1974

For the first time, England did not qualify for a World Cup. In a group with Olympic champions Poland and Wales, England could not overtake Poland. After only drawing at home to Wales 1–1 and losing 2–0 in Poland, England had to beat Poland at home, whilst Poland only needed to draw. Poland managed to withstand England's attacks in the first half. Poland took the lead in the 57th minute with a goal from Jan Domarski.