Association: The Football Association
Confederation: UEFA
Head coach: Fabio Capello
Asst coach: Italo Galbiati, Franco Baldini
Captain: John Terry
Most caps: Peter Shilton (125)
Top scorer: Sir Bobby Charlton (49)
Home stadium: Wembley Stadium
FIFA code: ENG
FIFA ranking: 8
Highest FIFA ranking: 4 (4 Occasions)
Lowest FIFA ranking: 27 (February 1996)
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872. Although most national football teams represent a sovereign state, England is one of the United Kingdom's Home Nations, meaning that it is permitted by FIFA statutes to maintain its own national side that competes in all major professional tournaments, with the exception of the Olympic Games. England's home ground is Wembley Stadium in London and their head coach is Fabio Capello.
England are one of eight national teams to have won 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. Since then their best performance at a World Cup was a fourth place finish in 1990. They reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship in 1968 and 1996. 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.
The traditional rivals of England are Scotland and Wales; the England and Scotland football rivalry began when they became opponents in the representative matches of the 1870s. As regular fixtures against Scotland came to an end in the late 1980s with the last traditional fixture against Wales being in 1984, they have met Scotland and Wales in full competition rarely over the last 25 years. Rivalries with other national teams have become more prominent. Matches against Argentina and Germany have produced particularly eventful encounters.
For the first 50 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, located in Brent, London, and was constructed 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. This stadium was demolished in 2001 and work began to completely rebuild it. During this time, England played at various different venues across the country. They returned to the new Wembley Stadium in 2007. The stadium is now owned by the Football Association via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited.
England's traditional home colours are white shirts, navy blue shorts and white socks. The team has periodically worn an all white kit. Umbro and Admiral have been the main designer of the England kits.
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 in order to promote it. 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.
The traditional rivals of England are Scotland and Wales; the England and Scotland football rivalry began when they became opponents in the representative matches of the 1870s. As regular fixtures against Scotland came to an end in the late 1980s with the last traditional fixture against Wales being in 1984, they have met Scotland and Wales in full competition rarely over the last 25 years. Rivalries with other national teams have become more prominent. Matches against Argentina and Germany have produced particularly eventful encounters.
For the first 50 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, located in Brent, London, and was constructed 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. This stadium was demolished in 2001 and work began to completely rebuild it. During this time, England played at various different venues across the country. They returned to the new Wembley Stadium in 2007. The stadium is now owned by the Football Association via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited.
Colours
England's traditional home colours are white shirts, navy blue shorts and white socks. The team has periodically worn an all white kit. Umbro and Admiral have been the main designer of the England kits.
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 in order to promote it. 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.
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| England home 1986 | England home 1987-89 |
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| England home 1990 | England away 1990 |
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| England home 1996-97 | England away 1996-97 |
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| England home 2001-03 | England home 2003-05 |
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| England home 2005-07 | England home 2007-09 |
David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves |  |
| England away 2008-10 | England home 2009-10 |
Wayne Rooney looks to inject some pace into England's play during a friendly match against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium in 2008. England won 2-1. |  |
| England home 2010-11 | England away 2010-11 |
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| England home 2011 Special Edition | England away 2011-12 |
