The United Kingdom national football team are a football team that represents the United Kingdom. Despite football being the most popular sport in the country, the team has not played since 1965 as separate teams represent each home nation in all major international football tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, as well as various friendlies. It is the home nations which are FIFA affiliated and not the United Kingdom as a whole.
The 1883–84 British Home Championship was the inaugural international football tournament, played between the Home Nations of the British Isles which at the time made up the constituent nations of the United Kingdom; England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. International football matches had begun with annual games played between England and Scotland in 1872 and they had been joined by Wales in 1876 and Ireland in 1882.
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international association football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It is the joint-oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, Scotland's opponents in what is now recognised as the world's first international football match, which took place at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow in November 1872. Prior to this, a series of matches had been played between teams representing the two countries, but the Scottish team was drawn almost entirely from players based in and around London and these games are now not regarded as full international matches. The lack of involvement by players from Scottish clubs in these matches led to some controversy, which was resolved when The Football Association arranged to send a team to play in Glasgow, where the English players took on a Scotland team composed entirely of players from the Queen's Park club.
The 1894–95 British Home Championship was an international football tournament played between the British Home Nations. The competition was won by England, who like second placed Wales, did not lose a game. Wales however failed to win one either, scoring three draws and so finishing behind England. Scotland took joint second place with three points gained from a win, draw and a loss. Ireland came last with a single point garnered from their draw with Wales.
This is a list of the Ireland national football team results from 1882 to 1899. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international association football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It is the joint-oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, Scotland's opponents in what is now recognised as the world's first international football match, which took place at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow in November 1872.
The 1873–74 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the first season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. A total of 16 teams from the west of Scotland entered the competition, but only 14 played a match after two teams withdrew. The competition began with a match between Renton and Kilmarnock on 18 October 1873 and concluded with the final on 21 March 1874. After 16 matches and 38 goals, the inaugural cup was won by Queen's Park who defeated fellow Glasgow club Clydesdale 2–0 in the final.
The 1876 association football match between the national teams representing Scotland and Wales took place on 25 March 1876 at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, the home ground of the West of Scotland Cricket Club. The match was the first game ever played by the Welsh side. It was also the first time than Scotland had played against a team other than England.
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales. The team are the third oldest in international football, behind only Scotland and England and played their first match on 18 March 1876, a 4–0 defeat to Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow. Wales played their first home fixture the following year, which Scotland won 2–0 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. Wales met England for the first time in 1879 and recorded their first victory against them two years later, winning 1–0 at Alexandra Meadows following a goal from John Vaughan. In 1882, Wales played Ireland for the first time, defeating them 7–1 at the Racecourse.
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales (FAW).
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Between 1920 and 1939 the side played 62 matches, the majority against the other national teams of the Home Nations in the British Home Championship. The side played their first official match after the end of World War I in February 1920 on the resumption of the Home Championship, drawing 2–2 with Ireland. A draw with Scotland and a win over England, their first since 1882, in the 1919–20 tournament secured the second Home Championship in Wales' history. They won a third title in the 1923–24 British Home Championship after defeating all three opponents in the same competition for the first time.
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Between 1980 and 1999 the side played 133 matches, the majority of which came against other European national teams. The British Home Championship, which had been held every year outside wartime since 1894, was disbanded in 1984. The decision to end the competition in its 100th year was blamed largely on low attendance figures, football hooliganism and England and Scotland's desire to play other opponents. Wales came within one match of winning the tournament in the 1980–81 season. They needed only to beat Northern Ireland, but the final game was never played after players refused to travel following an escalation of The Troubles in Ireland. Northern Ireland won the last tournament, held in the 1983–84 season, on goal difference as all four sides finished on equal points.
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Between 1900 and 1914 the side played 45 matches, all against the other national teams of the Home Nations in the British Home Championship. Having struggled in the competition prior to 1900, the Welsh side started the 20th century with considerably more success. They recorded two second-place finishes and winning their first Championship in the 1906–07 tournament in which they won their opening two matches before drawing with England in their final fixture, while Wales' Lot Jones was the competition's top goalscorer.
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Between 1960 and 1979 the side played 118 matches, the majority of which came against the other national teams of the Home Nations in the British Home Championship. Their first match of the period was a 3–2 victory over Northern Ireland which secured a shared Home Championship title as Wales, England and Scotland each finished with four points.
This is a list of the England national football team's results from 1870 to the present day that, for various reasons, are not accorded the status of official International A Matches.
From 1870 to the present day, the Scotland national football team have played various matches that are not accorded the status of official (FIFA) internationals by the governing body, the Scottish Football Association. These include early matches against England prior to the first-ever official international in 1872, wartime fixtures between 1914–1919 and 1939–1946 when official competitions were suspended, overseas tour matches played by a Scotland XI of varying strength and status, and others as specified.
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The Wales national football team is the third-oldest side in international association football. The team played their first match in March 1876, four years after Scotland and England had contested the first-ever international match. Wales played annual fixtures against Scotland, England, and later Ireland, and these were eventually organised into the British Home Championship, an annual competition between the Home Nations. Wales did not win their first championship until the 1906–07 tournament and this remained the nation's only triumph before the First World War. Wales improved considerably in the post-war period, and claimed three titles during the 1920s, although the team was often hindered by the reluctance of Football League clubs to release their players for international duty. The situation was so grave that, in the early 1930s, Wales were forced to select a team of lower league and amateur players which became known as "Keenor and the 10 unknowns", a reference to captain Fred Keenor and the relative obscurity of his teammates.
