England is where football began with some of the same rules used in the modern game first created by the original Football Association. And since, the Three Lions have always been a power house in international football.
In tournaments, they have always been a threat to their opposition. England have won the World Cup in 1966 and their best result in European Championships came in 1968 when they beat Soviet Union in the third place play-off after losing to Yugoslavia in the semifinal.
Here are ten of the all-time greatest record of the England national football team:
Biggest win
You have to go back as far as 1882 to find England’s biggest win which was a 13-0 thumping of Ireland.
England put 13 past Ireland again in 1899 in a 13-2 win with the next biggest win an 11-1 demolition of Austria in 1908. The youngest big win for England came in 1982 with a 9-0 victory over Luxembourg at Wembley.
Worst defeat
The biggest defeat that England have ever suffered is a 7-1 loss against the great Hungarians in 1954.
England were also beaten 7-2 by Scotland in 1878 and they lost again to the Scots 6-1 just three years later. A defeat to Brazil in 1964 is the most recent heavy defeat with England losing the game 5-1 before winning the World Cup just two years later.
Top scorers
Sir Bobby Charlton is the leading goal scorer for England in international football with 49 goals. He is closely followed by Gary Lineker who retired with 48 goals to his name.
Jimmy Greaves scored 44 times for the Three Lions which is four more than Michael Owen’s 40 goals. Tom Finney heads a list of three players on 30 goals.
Most capped player
Former goalkeeper Peter Shilton has more caps for England than any other player with 125. He also made over 1,000 Football League appearances.
David Beckham is second in the list with 115 England caps, Bobby Moore finished with 108 caps, Sir Bobby Charlton had 106 caps and Billy Wright had 105 caps.
Youngest player
Theo Walcott holds the record for being the youngest ever player to make his full international debut for England aged 17 years and 75 days old. The Arsenal winger made his debut against Hungary on May 30, 2006.
He is also the youngest ever player to score a hat-trick for England at 19 years and 178 days of age – he scored three against Croatia on September 10, 2008.
Longest serving manager
Walter Winterbottom holds the record for being England’s longest serving manager as he coached the side for sixteen years between 1946 and 1962.
Sir Alf Ramsey is second on the list with twelve years between 1962 and 1974 as the England boss with Sir Bobby Robson third on the list with a reign of eight years between 1982 and 1990 which ended with World Cup semi-final defeat in his final year.
Foreign coaches
Sven-Goran Eriksson became the first non-English manager of the England national team when he was appointed in 2001. He guided England to many memorable wins including a 5-1 victory away in Germany during his five years as manager.
Fabio Capello became the second foreign coach of England when he took over in 2008.
Penalty shoot-outs
England have lost more penalty shoot-outs at the FIFA World Cup than any other nation. England have lost three shoot-outs in total and have a reputation for being ‘bottlers’ when it comes to deciding matches at big tournaments via the spot kick method.
Red cards
Alan Mullery was the first ever player to be sent off for England in an international match. Mullery was sent off during the 1968 European Championship semi-final defeat against Yugoslavia.
David Beckham and Wayne Rooney share the record for most red cards for England with two each.
Shortest & tallest
The tallest player to ever play for England is Stoke City striker Peter Crouch at six feet seven inches tall.
The shortest player to ever play for England was Fanny Walden, a Tottenham winger who was just five feet two inches tall when he made his full England debut.
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