Portal:English football

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The English Football Portal

The England national football team playing at Wembley.

Football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs involved in the code than any other country. England hosts the world's first club, Sheffield F.C.; the world's oldest professional association football club, Notts County; the oldest national governing body, the Football Association; the joint-oldest national team; the oldest national knockout competition, the FA Cup; and the oldest national league, the English Football League. Today England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with five of the ten richest football clubs in the world as of 2022.

The England national football team is one of only eight teams to win the FIFA World Cup, having done so once, in 1966. A total of six English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League, formerly known as the European Cup. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football club, based at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, Wearside, in Northeast England. They moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 after 99 years at Roker Park. The Sunderland fans were recently voted the loudest in the Premiership following a survey which was carried out at every ground in the league. Before the Second World War, Sunderland were league champions six times - in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and most recently in 1936, when they became the last team wearing striped shirts to win the league. They were elected into the football league in 1890, becoming the first team to join after the league's birth in 1888. Sunderland stayed in the top flight until 1958, playing there for an impressive 58 seasons, but since their first relegation, they were outside the top flight than in it, appearing in only 29 out of 66 seasons. Only Arsenal, Liverpool, and Everton have lasted longer in the top tier. Nevertheless, they have played a decent amount of top flight seasons, appearing there on 87 occasions. The club won two FA Cups as well, winning the 1937 final over Preston North End 3-1, and most famously, defeated Leeds 1-0 in the 1973 final as a Second Division team.

Traditionally, Sunderland's two main rivals have been the Tyneside club Newcastle United and Teeside club Middlesbrough. Although both are generally geographically close, Newcastle are considered their main rivals.

More selected articles

Read more

Did you know...

...that Stoke City F.C. (1870s squad pictured) is the second-oldest English football league club, as it was founded in 1863?

...that the first professional football team, The Zulus, was established in Sheffield, England in 1879?

...that although England centre forward Geoff Hurst had scored a hat-trick and was therefore entitled to keep the match ball, it was German striker Helmut Haller who took it home after the 1966 World Cup final?

...that Harry Newbould was the first-ever manager of Derby County F.C.?

...that the Premier League's proposal to play some matches outside England has been condemned by the Football Supporters' Federation as "outrageous desecration of the national game"?

More did you know facts

More at WikiProject Football

Selected competition

The Isthmian League is a regional football league covering London and South East England. It is more commonly known by the name of its official title sponsor as the Ryman League, and has in previous years been variously known (in chronological order) as the Rothmans Isthmian League, Berger Isthmian League, Servowarm Isthmian League, Vauxhall-Opel League, Vauxhall League, Diadora League and ICIS League.

The league was founded in 1905, and was strongly dedicated to amateurism. The champions did not even receive a trophy, league policy being that the honour sufficed. Teams less able to compete financially thus gravitated to it rather than the Southern League, while those with ambition and money would move in the opposite direction.

Although the league established itself as one of the strongest leagues in the country, routinely providing the winners of the FA Amateur Cup, it was still seen as being at a lower level than the Southern League and Northern Premier League which were the top regional semi-professional leagues.

More selected competitions

Read more

WikiProjects

Direct relation

Football • England • English football task force

WikiProject Football Task Forces and sub-projects

Selected image

Credit: Public domain

The Sheffield F.C. team in 1890. Sheffield F.C. are regarded as the oldest football club in the world and were awarded the FIFA Order of Merit in 2004 to reflect this. The amateur team played Inter Milan in 2007 to celebrate their 150th anniversary at Bramall Lane with Pele as the guest of honour.

More selected pictures

Read more