England national football team

England

Nickname(s)	The Three Lions
Association	The Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Fabio Capello
Asst coach	Italo Galbiati
Captain	John Terry
Most caps	Peter Shilton (125)
Top scorer	Sir Bobby Charlton (49)
Home stadium	Wembley Stadium (London)
FIFA code	ENG
FIFA ranking	14
Highest FIFA ranking	4 (December 1997/September 2006)
Lowest FIFA ranking	27 (February 1996)
Elo ranking	T6
Highest Elo ranking	1 (1872-1876 1892-1911 1966-1970 1987-1988)
Lowest Elo ranking	17 (1928)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872)
Biggest win
Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 7 - 1 England (Budapest, Hungary; 23 May 1954)
World Cup
Appearances	12 (First in 1950)
Best result	Winners, 1966
European Championship
Appearances	7 (First in 1968)
Best result	1968: Third, 1996 Semi-finals

The English national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England. Although most national teams worldwide represent an independent state, the four constituent countries which form the United Kingdom are each represented separately in most international tournaments.

England is one of the more successful footballing teams, being one of only seven countries to ever win the FIFA World Cup, which they did in 1966 when they hosted the finals. They defeated West Germany 4-2 in extra time in the Final. England share with France the record of having one World Cup victory and this being achieved on home soil (the other winners have all won the trophy at least twice and at least once on foreign soil). Since then they have only reached the semi-finals once, losing to West Germany on penalties. Nevertheless, they remain a prominent team on the global stage, rarely dropping outside of the top ten rankings of both FIFA and Elo. England also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship in 1968 and 1996 (again played in England). They were the most successful of the Home Nations in the British Home Championship with 54 wins (including 20 shared wins) before the competition was suspended in 1984.

Traditionally, England's greatest rivals have been Scotland, who were their opponents in the first-ever international football match in 1870.^[1] Since regular fixtures against Scotland came to an end in the late 1980s, other rivalries have become more prominent.^[2] Matches with Argentina and Germany have produced particularly eventful encounters. England's home ground is Wembley Stadium in London.

Contents 1 History 2 Home stadium 3 Media coverage 4 Colours 4.1 Third kit 5 Fixtures & results 2008–09 5.1 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 6 5.2 Friendly matches 5.3 Upcoming friendly matches 6 England squad 6.1 Most recent squad 6.2 Recent call-ups 6.3 Coaching staff 6.4 Previous squads 7 Competition history 7.1 FIFA World Cup record 7.2 European Championship record 7.3 Minor tournaments 8 Player history 8.1 Notable past players 8.2 Most capped players 8.3 Top goalscorers 8.4 Managers 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

History

Main article: History of the England national football team

The England national football team is the joint oldest in the world, formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on the 5th 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, at Hamilton Crescent in Scotland, is viewed as the first official international as the two teams were independently selected and operated, rather than being the work of a single football association, as the 1870 match had been. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three "Home Nations" - Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The games were made competitive with the British Home Championship from 1883 to 1984.

Before Wembley was opened, England had no permanent home ground. England joined FIFA in 1906, playing its first ever game outside the British Isles in 1908. However, the relationship between the two was strained, resulting in the British nations' departure from FIFA in 1928, before rejoining in 1946. As a result, England did not compete in a World Cup until 1950, in which they were beaten in a 1-0 defeat against the United States, failing to get past the first round. England's first ever defeat on home soil to a non-UK team was a 0-2 loss to Ireland on 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool. A 6-3 loss in 1953 to Hungary was England's first ever defeat to a non-UK team at Wembley. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7-1, which still stands as England's worst ever defeat. Ivor Broadis scored the England goal. After the game bewildered England centre half Syd Owen said, “It was like playing people from outer space”.

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. Broadis beat Nat Lofthouse by 30 minutes when both scored 2 each in the thrilling 4-4 draw against Belgium. In reaching the quarter finals for the first time England lost 4-2 being eliminated by Uruguay. Only once have England progressed beyond the World Cup quarter finals away from home.

Although Walter Winterbottom was appointed as the first ever full time manager in 1946, the team was still picked by a committee until Alf Ramsey took over in 1963. Under Ramsey, England experienced its greatest ever success, winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final against West Germany 4-2 after extra time. Geoff Hurst famously scored a hat-trick in the final. The 1966 World Cup was also held in England. Though England lost again to the Auld Enemy Scotland only a year later with a famous 3-2 for the Scots at Wembley. England qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as reigning cup holders. They reached the Quarter-finals but were knocked out by West Germany. England had been 2 - 0 up but were eventually beaten 3-2 after extra time. For the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, England failed to qualify. In 1982, England under Ron Greenwood qualified for 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain after a 12-year absence and were eliminated from the second round without losing a match. The team under Bobby Robson fared better as England reached the quarter finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup and finished fourth in the tournament four years later. This is the only time England have progressed beyond the World Cup quarter finals away from home.

Graham Taylor's short reign as Robson's successor ended after his England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, but then the 1996 European Championships were held in England, and under new coach Terry Venables the team had its best performance at a European Championship, reaching the semi-final. The England team of the 1990s and 2000s has been consistently in football's top twenty countries, but hasn't progressed beyond the quarter finals of any international tournament apart from Italia 90 and Euro 96. Sven-Göran Eriksson took charge of the team between 2001 and 2006 and was the first non-English manager of England. Despite controversial press coverage of his personal life, Eriksson was consistently popular with the majority of fans and England enjoyed some success with top qualifying place in two World Cup tournaments and Euro 2004, losing only five competitive matches during his tenure and rising to a (joint) record FIFA No.4 world ranking for the English national team during the 2006 World Cup under his guidance. Eriksson's contract was extended by The FA by two years to include Euro 2008 prior to being terminated by them at the conclusion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Steve McClaren was appointed as the head coach following the 2006 World Cup. The reign was marked with little success, with England failing to qualify for the 2008 European Championships. McClaren left on 22 November 2007, after only 16 months in charge and making him the shortest tenured full time England manager ever since the inauguration of the post in 1946. He was replaced by the former Real Madrid and AC Milan manager Fabio Capello. The Italian is the second foreign manager to coach England, after Eriksson, and took charge of his first game on 6 February 2008 against Switzerland. England won 2-1. Since then Capello has also managed England in games against France, USA and Trinidad & Tobago. England lost 1-0 to France, won 2-0 against the USA and 3-0 against T&T. His next game against the Czech Republic ended in a 2-2 draw. In their first qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup, Joe Cole scored both England's goals in a 2–0 win over Andorra and a 4-1 victory over Croatia with a hat-trick from Theo Walcott and a goal from Wayne Rooney. This was followed by a 5–1 victory at home over Kazhakstan, with Wayne Rooney scoring twice and Rio Ferdinand and Jermaine Defoe, along with an own goal, completing the scoring.

Home stadium

For the first 50 years of its existence, England played its home matches all around the country; for the first few years it used cricket grounds, before later moving on to football clubs' stadiums. England played their first match at Wembley Stadium in 1924 against Scotland, but for the next 27 years only used Wembley as a venue for Scotland matches.

The Wembley Stadium is a stadium in Wembley, located in the London Borough of Brent in London, England. It is owned by The Football Association (FA) via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited, and its primary use is for home games of the England national football team, and the main English domestic football finals.

The original Wembley Stadium first opened its doors in 1924 in a match against Scotland and closed them in 2000 with a farewell defeat to arch rivals Germany. The new 90,000 seater Wembley costing £800 million, hosted its first match on 01/06/2007 against Brazil ending 1-1, with former captain David Beckham setting up new captain John Terry for England's first goal at the new Wembley Stadium.

Media coverage

From the 2008–09 season to the 2011-2012 season, England's home qualifiers will be shown live on ITV with away qualifiers and home friendlies being shown live on Setanta Sports. Away friendlies will again be sold by the home team. Before this, home qualifiers and friendlies were shown on BBC with away matches on Sky Sports.

In Australia England national football team home games and selected away games are broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia.

All matches are broadcast with full commentary on BBC Radio Five Live.

Colours

England's Brazil-style third kit from 1973

England's traditional home colours are white shirts, navy shorts and white socks.

The traditional England away colour is red, although England did not need an away kit until they played against a non-British side. From 1945 to 1952, England wore a blue away kit. In 1996 England's away kit was changed to grey shirts, shorts and socks. This kit was worn against Bulgaria, Germany and Georgia but the deviation from traditional red was unpopular with supporters and since then the England away kit has remained red.

Third kit

England have occasionally had a third kit as well. At the 1970 World Cup England wore a third kit with light blue shirt, shorts and socks against Czechoslovakia.

They had a strip similar to Brazil's kit, with a yellow shirt and blue shorts in 1973, worn against Czechoslovakia, Poland and Italy.

Between 1986 and 1992 England had pale blue third kits which were rarely worn. By : wikipedia.com