Gary Winston Lineker is an English sports broadcaster and former professional footballer. Lineker is the only player to have been the top goalscorer in England with three clubs: Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. He also played for Barcelona in Spain, and won 80 caps for England. His media career began with the BBC, where he has presented the flagship football programme Match of the Day since the late 1990s, the longest tenure of any MOTD presenter. Lineker is also the BBC's lead presenter for live football matches, including coverage of international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup. He has also worked for Al Jazeera Sports, Eredivisie Live, NBC Sports Network, and BT Sport's coverage of the UEFA Champions League.
The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested between any two international rugby union teams, pre-dating the Bledisloe Cup by more than half a century. It is also the oldest of several trophies awarded under the umbrella of the Six Nations Championship, which include the Millennium Trophy (England–Ireland), Centenary Quaich (Ireland–Scotland), Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy (France–Italy), Auld Alliance Trophy (France–Scotland), the Doddie Weir Cup (Scotland–Wales) and the Cuttitta Cup (Italy–Scotland).
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. They compete in three major professional tournaments: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Nations League, and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland, as a country of the United Kingdom, are not a member of the International Olympic Committee, and therefore the national team does not compete in the Olympic Games. The majority of Scotland's home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park.
The Scotland national rugby union team represents the Scottish Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship, where they are the current Calcutta Cup and Doddie Weir Cup holders. They also participate in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
The England women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first international match in November 1972 against Scotland. Although most national football teams represent a sovereign state, England is permitted by FIFA statutes, as a member of the United Kingdom's Home Nations, to maintain a national side that competes in all major tournaments, with the exception of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.
The Ireland men's cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland, is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and they organise the international team. The team have a number of home grounds, including Malahide in County Dublin, Stormont, Belfast, Bready in the north-west and Clontarf in Dublin city. A further ground is planned for the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Dublin for 2030. Due to the short season allowed by the Irish climate, and lack of large scale facilities, Ireland also occasionally play 'home matches' in venues in England and further abroad.
The India women's national cricket team, also known as Women in Blue, represents India in women's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Women's Test, Women's One Day International, and Women's Twenty20 International status.
The West Indies cricket team, officially The Windies, is a men's cricket team representing the West Indies—a group of mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region—and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on this composite team are selected from a chain of fifteen Caribbean nation-states and territories. As of 12 July 2024, the West Indies cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, tenth in ODIs, and third in T20Is in the official ICC rankings.
The Scotland women's national football team represents Scotland in international women's football competitions. Since 1998, the team has been governed by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). Scotland qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time in 2019, and for their first UEFA Women's Championship in 2017. As of June 2023, the team was placed 23rd in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. Although most national football teams represent a sovereign state, as a member of the United Kingdom's Home Nations, Scotland is permitted by FIFA statutes to maintain its own national side that competes in all major tournaments, with the exception of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.
England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an international environment and to show that they have the ability to perform at Test level for the England first team. England A were unbeaten for 13 games until losing to Ireland A, now known as Ireland Wolfhounds, in the 2009 Churchill Cup Final on 21 June 2009.
A cricket cap is a type of soft cap, often made from felt, that is a traditional form of headwear for players of the game of cricket, regardless of age or sex. It is usually a tight-fitting skullcap, usually made of six or eight sections, with a small crescent shaped brim that points downwards over the brow to provide shade for the eyes. It is often, but not always, elasticised at the rear to hold it in place upon the wearer's head. Sometimes, rather than tight-fitting, the cricket cap comes in a baggy variety, that is always kept in place by elastic. The style of cap is also often used as official headwear as part of school uniforms for boys from private schools, particularly in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. Although not common in the modern period, the cricket cap used to be a fashionable form of headwear for people who were casually dressed, and not necessarily worn just for playing the game.
A test match in rugby union is an international match, usually played between two senior national teams, that is recognised as such by at least one of the teams' national governing bodies.
William Edward Maclagan was a Scottish international rugby union forward who played club rugby for London Scottish F.C. Maclagan was one of the longest-serving international rugby players during the early development of the sport, and was awarded 25 caps for Scotland.
This is a list of statistical records for the Argentina national football team.
In association football, the FIFA eligibility rules are the eligibility criteria established by FIFA, the sport's governing body, to facilitate the selection of representative teams for international competitions. Specifically, FIFA maintains and implements rules determining a player's eligibility to represent a particular national team in officially sanctioned international competitions and friendly matches.
