England At The FIFA World Cup
This is a record of England's results at the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is the premier competitive international football tournament, first played in 1930, whose finals stage has been held every four years since, except 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The England national football team did not enter the competition until 1950, and has entered ever since, for a total of 16 tournaments, although it has failed to qualify for the finals proper on 3 occasions, 1974 (Germany), 1978 (Argentina) and 1994 (USA). Their best ever performance is a sole win in the 1966 tournament held in England, and reaching the semi-finals in 1990, held in Italy. Other than that, the team has reached the quarter-finals on 6 occasions, including 2002 (Korea/Japan), and 2006 (Germany). Their worst ever performance was their 13th place in 2010 (South Africa), where they lost 1–4 to rivals Germany, their worst ever defeat in a major tournament.
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.
England are one of only eight 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. 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.
Read more about England At The FIFA World Cup: Records
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