The history of the England men's 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 qualified for 16 of the 19 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 have reached the semi-finals on two other occasions, in 1990 and 2018. The Three Lions have been eliminated from the World Cup quarter-final stage on seven occasions – more often than any other nation. England failed to qualify for the finals in 1974, 1978, and 1994.
England also compete in the UEFA European Championship. During UEFA Euro 2020, they reached the final of the competition for the first time, finishing as runners-up. England have also reached the semi-final of the competition in 1968 and 1996 with the latter held on home soil. England's most capped player is Peter Shilton with 125 caps and its top goalscorer is Harry Kane with 61 goals. England compete in the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, and UEFA Nations League. However, as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, England are not a member of the International Olympic Committee so are not eligible to compete in the Olympic games.
Early years
1870–1900
England's first international representative matches were arranged by the influential sports administrator Charles Alcock, under the auspices of the Football Association. The first five friendly matches, which all took place at The Oval, London, 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's first FIFA-recognised international football match was a 0–0 draw against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow, on 30 November 1872. Scotland was represented by players from Glasgow's Queen's Park club. 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. This stood as a record for either side in the fixture for 77 years, until England beat Scotland 7–2 at Wembley during the 1955 Home Championship.
1900–1939
Over the next 40 years, most of England's fixtures were 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.