page_title: United Kingdom national football team
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: United Kingdom national football team / Background
caption_attribution_description: A map of the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies, depicting the four separate Football Associations' jurisdictions. They correspond to the Home Nations, except the Crown Dependencies, which are affiliated to the English FA.
context_page_description: No United Kingdom national football team exists, as there are separate teams representing each of the nations of the United Kingdom in international football.
  These national teams compete in the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championships and other internationals. A United Kingdom team has played in friendly matches, though never in a full FIFA international and not since 1955. However, the United Kingdom has competed in the association football tournament at the Summer Olympic Games, where it is represented by the Great Britain Olympic football team.
context_section_description: When the world's first football association, The Football Association (FA), was formed in 1863, its geographical remit was not clear: there was no specification of whether it covered just England, all of the United Kingdom, the British Empire or even the entire world. The question was answered when the Scottish Football Association (SFA) was founded in 1873.
  The third national football association, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) was founded in 1876 and a fourth, the Irish Football Association (IFA), was founded in 1880. Football therefore developed with separate associations and national teams for each of the countries of the United Kingdom or "Home Nations".
  Representative international matches between England and Scotland were played as far back as 1872, and the Home Nations formed the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 1886 to co-ordinate matches between their teams. FIFA was formed by non-British associations in 1904, and by 1913 the Home Nations were in FIFA and FIFA was on the IFAB. In 1921, around the time of the partition of Ireland, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) split from the IFA and disputed its authority.
  In 1923, an agreement between the IFAB and FIFA meant the FAI would represent the Irish Free State and the IFA Northern Ireland; also, FIFA agreed that relationships between the Home Nations would be outside its remit. England and Scotland separately played internationals against various European teams, but the Home Nations withdrew from FIFA in 1928, in a dispute over amateurism, and did not rejoin till 1946, missing the first three World Cups.
  England have been the only Home Nation to have any major success internationally, winning the 1966 World Cup. Scotland have qualified for the final tournaments of eight World Cups and two European Championships, but have never progressed beyond the group stage of any international tournament.  Northern Ireland have not qualified for a World Cup finals tournament since 1986, and Wales since 1958.
  This is sometimes raised as an argument in favour of a single United Kingdom national team: based on statistical analysis. In June 2006, it was estimated that a United Kingdom national team would have had a one-third greater chance of winning the 2006 World Cup, than England did at the tournament's outset. Opponents of the plan argue that the existing footballing identities of the fans of the Home Nations should not be sacrificed simply to stand a better chance of success.
  There has been limited support for the creation of a permanent British national team. Although often hypothetical in nature, such a proposal has been put forward by prominent government ministers, including Jack Straw and Tony Banks. In July 2014, after England performed poorly in the 2014 World Cup, Conservative MP Laurence Robertson submitted an early day motion, calling for a United Kingdom Football Team.
caption: The four football federations of the United Kingdom:
       England
       Scotland
       Wales
       Northern Ireland
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