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The history of the England national football team, also known as the Three Lions, begins with the first representative international match in 1870 and the first officially-recognised match two years later. England primarily competed in the British Home Championship over the following decades. Although the FA had joined the international governing body of association football FIFA in 1906, the relationship with the British associations was fraught. In 1928, the British nations withdrew from FIFA, in a dispute over payments to amateur players. This meant that England did not enter the first three World Cups.
The Three Lions first entered the World Cup in 1950 and have since appeared in 16 of the 19 post-war finals tournaments to 2022. They won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, making them one of only eight nations to have won a FIFA World Cup. They reached the semi-finals on two other occasions, in 1990 and 2018. England have been eliminated from the World Cup quarter-final stage on seven occasions – more often than any other nation – and failed to qualify for the finals in 1974, 1978, and 1994.
England also compete in the UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League. At UEFA Euro 2020, they reached the final of the competition for the first time, finishing as runners-up, and finished in the same position at UEFA Euro 2024. England previously reached the semi-final of the competition in 1968 and 1996, with the latter held on home soil. England's most capped player is goalkeeper Peter Shilton and their top goalscorer is Harry Kane. As a constituent country of the United Kingdom, England are not a member of the International Olympic Committee and so are not eligible to compete in the Olympic Games.