Formed at the same time as the Scottish football, England is actually joint oldest football team in the world. In 1870 the Football association arranged a match between the two teams and this was played on the 5th March of that same year. A return match was played on the 30th November 1872. Over the next 40 years, England played a number of games exclusively with the Home Nations – Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

England joined FIFA in 1906 for the first time and played its first ever games against some one other the Ireland, Wales or Scotland whilst on a tour of Europe in 1908. As a team England did not play in the World Cup matches until 1950. Which they did play they failed to get past the first round when they were beaten by the USA, 1-0.

However this is not remembered much because it was their win at the 1966 World Cup that sticks in the mind of England fans.

There have been a number of England managers and in fact in 1990 there were a total of 4 in a short time. The first non English Manager of the team was Sven Goran Eriksson who managed the team for 5 years from 2001.

Whilst being managed by Sven, England saw a number of successes. These include – qualifying in 2 world cups and the Euro 2004, losing only five competitive matches, rising to a record FIFA No.4 world ranking for the English national team during the 2006 World Cup.