England at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of England's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the "World Cup Finals"). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final. [http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/ffprojects/ip-401_06e_tv_2658.pdf 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage] (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.]

England are one of the more successful footballing teams, being one of only seven countries to ever win the FIFA World Cup, which they did in 1966 when they hosted the finals. They defeated West Germany 4-2 in extra time in 1966 to win their first, and only, World Cup title. However, since 1966, they have never made it past the semi-finals. Nevertheless they remain a prominent team on the global stage, rarely dropping outside of the top ten rankings of both FIFA and ELO. England also reached the semi-final of the UEFA European Championship in 1968 and 1996. They were the most successful of the "home nations", in the British Home Championship with 54 wins (including 20 shared wins) before the competition was suspended in 1984.

Traditionally, England's greatest rivals have been Scotland, who were their opponents in the first-ever international football match in 1872. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/11/99/battle_of_britain/473756.stm|title=A history of fierce football rivalry|date=1999-10-13|accessdate=2007-10-25|publisher=BBC Sport] Since regular fixtures against Scotland came to an end in the late 1980s, other rivalries have become more prominent. [cite web|url=http://www.caughtoffside.com/2007/08/21/who-are-englands-biggest-rivals-now-still-germany-portugal-argentina/2684.html
title=Who Are England’s Biggest Rivals Now? Still Germany? Portugal? Argentina?|work=caughtoffside|accessdaymonth=15 November |accessyear=2007] Matches with Argentina and Germany have produced particularly eventful encounters. England's home ground is Wembley Stadium in London.

Records

:"*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks."

References

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/ FIFA Official Ranking of all Participants at Finals 1930–2002. FIFA Match Results for all Stages 1930–2002]
* [http://www.fifa.com/index.html?language=en FIFA official site]