| Association | None |
|---|---|
| Head coach | None appointed |
| Captain | None appointed |
| Most caps | Billy Liddell, Stanley Matthews (2) |
| Top scorer | Wilf Mannion, Tommy Lawton (2) |
| Home stadium | Various |
| FIFA code | N/A |
| FIFA ranking | N/A |
| First international | |
| Great Britain 6 - 1 Rest of Europe (Glasgow; 10 May 1947) |
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| Biggest win | |
| Great Britain 6 - 1 Rest of Europe (Glasgow; 10 May 1947) |
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| Biggest defeat | |
| Great Britain 1 - 4 Rest of Europe (Belfast; 13 August 1955) |
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No United Kingdom national football team currently exists, as there are separate teams representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in football. These national teams compete in the World Cup and European Championships and other internationals. A UK team has played in friendly matches, though never in a full FIFA international and not since 1947. The UK has also competed in the football tournament of the Olympic Games, where it is represented by the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team.
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When the world's first football association, The Football Association (FA), was formed in 1863, its geographical remit was not clear: there was no specification of whether it covered just England, the entire UK or even the entire world. The question was answered when the Scottish Football Association (SFA) was founded in 1873. The third national football association, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) was founded in 1876 and a fourth, the Irish Football Association, (IFA), was founded in 1880.
Football therefore developed with separate associations and national teams for each of the countries of the United Kingdom and no 'United Kingdom football association' was ever formed. Representative international matches between England and Scotland were played as far back as 1872, before the sport spread to other parts of the world, but none of the Home Nations took part in a World Cup until 1950 because they had withdrawn from FIFA over disputes regarding payments to amateur players and did not rejoin until 1946.
England have been the only team to have any major success internationally, winning the 1966 World Cup. Scotland have never progressed beyond the group stage of any international tournament, despite competing in final tournaments of eight World Cups and two European Championships. Northern Ireland have not qualified for a finals tournament since 1986, and Wales since 1958. This is sometimes raised as an argument in favour of a single United Kingdom national team: based on statistical analysis of recent matches, it has been estimated that a United Kingdom national team would have had a one-third greater chance of winning the 2006 World Cup than England did at the tournament's outset.[1] Opponents of the plan argue that the existing footballing identities of the fans of the Home Nations should not be sacrificed simply to stand a better chance of success.
There has been limited support for the creation of a permanent British national team. Although often hypothetical in nature, such a proposal has been put forward by prominent government ministers, including Jack Straw[2] and Tony Banks.[3]
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Great Britain (1947)
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Great Britain (1955)
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| The kits worn in the two past matches: • Scotland's blue in 1947. • Northern Ireland's green in 1955. |
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Despite this, the Home Nations have previously united to play two friendly internationals against 'Rest of Europe' representative sides. On both occasions, they included all four Home Nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Despite Northern Ireland's participation, both matches were played under the name of 'Great Britain'.
The 1947 game, dubbed the 'Match of the Century', was played to celebrate the return of the Home Nations to FIFA, which they had left in 1920.[5] For the match, played at Scotland's Hampden Park in front of 135,000 spectators, the Great Britain side wore a navy blue strip in honour of the host association. The gate receipts, totalling £35,000, helped boost the finances of FIFA, which had been damaged by the lack of competition during World War II.[5] On that occasion, the Great Britain team consisted of:
The 1955 game was played to celebrate the Irish Football Association's seventy-fifth anniversary. For this reason, the match was held at Belfast's Windsor Park, and the British team took to the field wearing Northern Ireland's green strip. The Great Britain team fielded comprised:
Two other games were played between Wales and a team representing the rest of the United Kingdom, with players from England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The first match, in 1951, commemorated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Football Association of Wales. The second match, in 1969, commemorated the investiture of the Prince of Wales. In both cases, the England, Scotland and Northern Ireland select team played under the name of 'Rest of the United Kingdom'.
There was also a match played at Wembley in 1973 to commemorate the entry of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark into the European Economic Community.[8] This match, called "The Three" v "The Six", involved a select team from those three countries playing against a selection of players from the original six members of the EEC: West Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Italy.[8] Ten of the thirteen players used by "The Three" were from the United Kingdom, with only Johnny Giles and two Danish players representing the other two countries.[8] Henning Jensen and Colin Stein scored as The Three won 2–0.[8]
A Great British team lined up against another Rest of Europe XI in 1965 for Stanley Matthews' testimonial. Europe won 6–4.[9]
From the 1904 Summer Olympics to the 1972 Summer Olympics, and again for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the UK has competed in either the Olympic football tournament or its qualifying competition.[10] During the first tournament, played as a demonstration sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics but retrospectively accredited by the IOC, Upton Park F.C. represented the UK and won gold. Following this Great Britain won gold medals at the 1908 and 1912 Games.[11][12] All 'Great Britain' Olympic football teams were organised by The Football Association with the acquiescence of the other Home Nations' FAs, and after The Football Association scrapped the distinction between professional and amateur players in 1974, no more British Olympic teams were entered. The team is due to be reformed for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, though will possibly consist of only English players following agreement between the four Associations in May 2009.
At the Universiade, the United Kingdom Team won two medals: a silver medal in 2011 and a bronze medal in 1991.
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