England – The Three Lions

World Cup Appearances: 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026

Highest Finish: Champions in 1966

While ball games have been played around the world for centuries, the sport we now know as soccer was born in England. During the nineteenth century, different schools, towns, and clubs played their own versions of football, often with conflicting rules. In 1863, representatives from English clubs met in London to create a single set of laws and formed The Football Association. These rules standardized the game, separating soccer from rugby and laying the foundation for modern football worldwide.

The sport spread rapidly through trade, migration, and the British Empire. Local clubs, international matches, and global competitions soon followed.

Today, soccer is the world’s most popular sport. Its global story traces back to a series of meetings in Victorian England, where a diverse collection of local games was transformed into a single, universal language.