Portal:English football

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The English Football Portal

The England national football team playing at Wembley.

Football is the most popular sport in England. England is home to the world's first football league, the oldest national governing body, and the oldest national knockout competition. The first modern rules for the game were established in England in 1863. England is one of the oldest national football teams, having played in the first international match in 1872. England won the FIFA World Cup in 1966, and has qualified for the World Cup 16 times. England has more football clubs than any other country, including the world's first club, Sheffield F.C., and the world's oldest professional club, Notts County. England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest leagues in the world. The British Empire's cultural power spread the rules of football to areas of British influence. England the home of football, 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. It also has 31% of the population interested in Football. 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...)

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Preston North End is a professional football club in the Lancashire town of Preston, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Originally a cricket club, Preston has been based at Deepdale since 1875, and it is known to be football's oldest ground in terms of continuous use by a league club. The club first took up football in 1878 as a winter fitness activity and decided to focus on it in May 1880, when the football club was officially founded.

Preston were one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888, and have appeared in the top flight on 46 occasions, but they have not played at this level since 1961, the year after Tom Finney retired. Finney was revered around Preston, and they had a couple of near misses, whether it be finishing runners-up to Arsenal in 1953 or losing in the 1954 FA Cup final to West Brom. However, what they are mostly known for is that they were the first Double winners and not only did they won the inaugural league championship, they did it without losing a single game, giving them the nickname "The Invincibles", a feat that would be replicated by Arsenal 115 years later, and they won the FA Cup without conceding one goal. The Lilywhites won the title again in 1890 but their only major success since then has been their 1938 FA Cup final victory over Huddersfield Town. Other notable players include Tommy Docherty, Graham Alexander, Paul Gallagher, Alan Kelly Sr., and Bill Shankly, with the latter two commemorated at Deepdale by stands named after them. Finney also has a stand named after him, but also a statute outside the ground.

Traditionally, Preston's main rivalry is with Blackpool, given that the two clubs are 17 miles apart, but there have been other local rivals in the league over the years including Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.

Did you know...

...that Billy Mercer (pictured) became caretaker assistant manager of Sheffield Wednesday in October 2006, having previously played for rivals Sheffield United?

...that Sheffield Wednesday Ladies F.C. were formed at the Star Inn public house in Rotherham in 1971 following a charity match between men and women at the pub?

...that footballer George Wynn was Manchester City's leading goalscorer in three consecutive seasons?

...that Sam Ormerod was the first manager to gain promotion to the First Division, the highest level of English football, with Manchester City F.C.?

...that in 1916, footballer Bob Benson volunteered to replace an absent Arsenal team-mate just before a game, only to collapse and die during the match?

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The Football League Trophy is the generic name of an English football competition for clubs in the two lower divisions of The Football League and, in some seasons, the leading sides in the Conference National. It was originally called the Associate Members' Cup (an anachronism as there is now no distinction between full and associate membership of the Football League).

The official name is periodically changed to match changes in sponsors and is now the Johnstone's Paint Trophy (for three years from 2006), the common nickname amongst the fans for the cup during this period is the "Paint Pot Trophy" or "Paint Pot Cup".

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Manchester City's Michael Johnson takes a corner kick during a match in the Premier League. The corner kick was devised in 1867 under the Sheffield Rules, and is awarded to the attacking team when the ball leaves the field of play by crossing the goal line, either on the ground or in the air, having been last touched by a defending player.