The national team, then made up of professionals and amateurs, played Scotland in the first official international match at the West of Scotland Cricket Club at Partick, near Glasgow, on 30 November 1872.
The game ended in a 0-0 draw but a tradition had been set in motion and it was not long before Wales and Ireland were added to England's international fixture card.
The England team has always been run by The Football Association, Charles Alcock, Secretary of The FA between 1870 and 1895, being the driving force behind establishing an England team in 1870.
In 1899, a Football Association side toured Germany but it was in 1908 that the full England team went on its first overseas tour, to Austria, Hungary and Bohemia (as the Czech Republic was then called), winning all four games.
Belgium, in 1923, were the first side from the Continent to play a full international in England, and a year later England played their first match at Wembley Stadium, drawing 1-1 with Scotland (although it was not to become England's permanent home until 1966).
It was in 1929 that England lost for the first time to European opponents, Spain triumphing 4-3 in Madrid. More remarkable, though, is the fact that it was not until 1953, 81 years after the first international, that England lost at home to a national side from continental Europe, Hungary winning 6-3.
Because of a disagreement with FIFA over payments to amateur players, England did not enter the World Cups in 1930, '34 and '38.
After the Second World War, England rejoined FIFA and duly entered the World Cup in 1950, hosted by Brazil. England, hampered by climatic conditions, failed to progress beyond their qualifying group.
In the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, England fared better, losing in the quarter-finals to Uruguay. Four years later, England drew all their group games and failed to qualify for the knock-out phase. In 1962, England progressed to the quarter-finals where they were beaten by Brazil.
England's finest international hour came four years later in 1966, when Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley on 30 July 1966.
Grouped with Uruguay, Mexico and France, England drew one game and won the others to progress to the quarter-finals where Argentina lay in wait. England won a bruising encounter 1-0 and then beat Portugal 2-1 in the semis.
In the final, England won 4-2, after extra-time, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick, the only man to do so in a World Cup Final. The team that day was: G Banks, G Cohen, R Wilson, N Stiles, J Charlton, R Moore, A Ball, R Hunt, R Charlton, G Hurst, M Peters.
England's next-best performance at a World Cup was in 1990 when losing to West Germany on penalties in the semi-final.
England also enters the UEFA European Football Championship (formerly the European Nations Cup).
England first entered in 1962/63, losing in the first round to France. In 1968, England fared better, getting to the semi-finals, a feat they repeated in 1996. Over 1,100 players have been selected for England's senior team, with Peter Shilton, on 125 appearances, the most capped player. Bobby Charlton, with 49 goals, is England's leading goal-scorer.
Steve McClaren was the eleventh person to hold the job as England Head Coach permanently since The FA made Walter Winterbottom its first Director of Coaching in 1946.
Nowadays, The FA is involved in the organisation of more than 50 international matches, home and away, in any one season - at Senior, "B", Under-21, Youth, Schoolboy, Semi-Professional and Women's levels
Following the arrival of Sven-Goran Eriksson as Head Coach in January 2001, the England team enjoyed a period of inspired form, recording 5 successive World Cup victories against Finland, Albania (twice), Greece and Germany, before securing dramatic qualification for the Finals with captain David Beckham's last minute equaliser against Greece.
At the Finals in Korea and Japan, England qualified from the 'group of death' recording a memorable victory of Argentina in the Sapporo Dome. A three-nil win against Denmark in the pouring rain set up a quarter-final against Brazil and Michael Owen gave the Three Lions great hope when he opened the scoring early-on.
However, goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho sent England home and crushed their hopes of lifting the World's biggest prize.
England also reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2004. having negotiated a tricky group involving France, Croatia and Switzerland, England crashed out on penalties to hosts Portugal.
In their last World Cup, in Germany, it was almost a case of Deja Vu as Portugal again knocked England out of the competition on penalties at the quarter-final stage. After a 0-0 draw in Gelsenkirchen, the Three Lions, who had been reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Wayne Rooney, once again failed from 12 yards.
Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo scored the all-important kick after Frank Lampard, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard had all missed.
That game marked Eriksson's last in charge and new Head Coach Steve McClaren took over as England looked towards their Euro 2008 qualification campaign.
Steve McClaren was in charge of the Three Lions for 18 games, winning nine, but after missing out on qualification for Euro 2008 his contract was terminated on 22 November 2007.
On Friday 14 December 2007, The FA confirmed the appointment of
Fabio Capello as the new England Manager. He started his job at Soho Square on 7 January 2008, with qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa his objective.