Portal:English football

The English Football Portal

The England national football team playing at Wembley.

Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest national governing body, and the oldest national knockout competition. With over 40,000 football clubs, England has more teams involved in the sport than any other country. The world's first football club, Sheffield F.C., and the oldest professional club, Notts County, were both founded in England.

The influence of the British Empire helped spread football across the globe, shaping the development of the modern Laws of the Game. England's domestic football scene remains one of the strongest in the world, with the Premier League ranking among the richest and most popular leagues globally. As of 2024, five of the ten richest football clubs were English. Football remains deeply ingrained in English culture, with 31% of the population expressing an interest in the sport. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

Margate Football Club are an English football team based in the seaside resort of Margate, Kent. Nicknamed "The Gate", the club have reached the third round proper of England's premier cup competition, the FA Cup, on two occasions.

Founded in 1896, the club joined the Southern Football League in 1933 and remained there until 2001 when they gained promotion to the Football Conference, the highest level of English non-league football.

Their tenure in the Conference saw the team forced to groundshare with other clubs due to drawn-out and problematic redevelopment work at their Hartsdown Park stadium, and during the three years spent away from their own ground they were expelled from the Conference National and subsequently relegated to the Isthmian League.

More selected articles

Read more

Did you know...

...that the rivalry between Leeds United ("rose" pictured) and Manchester United football clubs has its roots in the 15th century English civil war, the Wars of the Roses?

...that footballer Alan Taylor scored two goals in the quarter final, two goals in the semi final and two goals in the final of the 1975 FA Cup as his club West Ham United won the competition?

...that English cricketer and footballer Arthur Milton was the last surviving person to have played Test cricket for the England cricket team and international football for the England football team?

...that English football referee Gary Willard once had to be given a police safety escort off the pitch after sending off three home team players in a single game?

...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 Conference League Cup is the generic name of an English football competition, open to clubs playing in levels 5 or 6 of the English football league system, (steps 1 and 2 of the National League System), which covers the three Football Conference divisions.

The Conference League Cup was formed for the inaugural season of the Football Conference, in 1979–80 and existed for twenty-two seasons before being axed at the end of the 2000–01 season. It was briefly re-formed for the 2004–05 season, but it was again agreed not to renew the competition for the next season. With the transfer of sponsorship of the Conference to Blue Square for the start of the 2007–08 season two seasons later, the re-introduction of the competition was announced, scheduled to commence that very year.

More selected competitions

Read more

WikiProjects

Direct relation

Football • England • English football task force

WikiProject Football Task Forces and sub-projects

Selected image

Credit: Flickr user stella_gonzales2003

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.

More selected pictures

Read more