2. Football in England
 Association football is a national sport in England, 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 is home to, amongst others, the world's oldest association
football club (Sheffield F.C.), the oldest national governing body
(The Football Association), the first national team, the oldest
national knockout competition (the FA Cup) and the oldest
national league (The Football League). Today England's top
domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular
and richest sports leagues in the world,[1] and is home to some of
the world's most famous football clubs.

3. History of English football
 The modern global game of association football was first
codified in 1863 in London. The impetus for this was to
unify English public school and university football games.
 Football was played in England as far back as medieval
times. The first written evidence of a football match came
in about 1170, when William Fitzstephen wrote of his visit
to London, "After dinner all the youths of the city goes out
into the fields for the very popular game of ball." He also
went on to mention that each trade had their own team,
"The elders, the fathers, and the men of wealth come on
horseback to view the contests of their juniors, and in
their fashion sport with the young men; and there seems
to be aroused in these elders a stirring of natural heat by
viewing so much activity and by participation in the joys of
unrestrained youth." Kicking ball games are described in
England from 1280

4. Stadium of English football
Wembley Stadium is the
National stadium in England. It
is also the largest stadium in
the country with a capacity of
90,000. It is owned by the FA
and stages England home
matches, the FA Cup final and
semi-finals, League Cup final,
Football League Trophy, FA
Trophy, FA Vase as well as the
Promotion play-off finals of the
Football League and the
Conference National.

5. Stadium of English football
Old Trafford with a capacity
of 76,212 is the largest club
stadium, with the Emirates
Stadium holding 60,355 and st
james ' park holding 52,387.
All Premier League clubs play
in all- seater stadia. Most
professional clubs have either
moved to new purpose-built
stadia or redeveloped their
stadium

6. Northern Ireland national
football team
The Northern Ireland national football team
represents Northern Ireland in international
association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland
was represented by a single side, the Ireland
national football team, organised by the Irish
Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the
jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern
Ireland following the secession of clubs in the
soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team
purported to remain the national team for all of
Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland
until the mid-1970s. The Football Association of
Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of
Ireland national football team.

7. England national football
team
 England are one of eight
national teams to have won the
FIFA World Cup, which they did
in 1966 when they hosted the
finals. They defeated West
Germany 4–2 in extra time in the
final. Since then, their best
performance at a World Cup was
a fourth place finish in 1990.
They reached the semi-finals of
the UEFA European
Championship in 1968 and 1996.
They were the most successful of
the Home Nations in the British
Home Championship with 54
wins (including 20 shared wins)
before the competition was
suspended in 1984.

8. Scotland national football
team The Scotland national football team
represents Scotland in international football
and is controlled by the Scottish Football
Association. Scotland are the joint oldest
national football team in the world, alongside
England, whom they played in the world's first
international football match in 1872. Scotland
maintains its own national side that competes
in all major professional tournaments with the
exception of the Olympic Games, as Scotland
is not a member of the International Olympic
Committee. The majority of Scotland's home
matches are held at the national stadium,
Hampden Park, with friendly matches
sometimes hosted at club stadiums.

9. Wales national football
team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in
international football. It is controlled by the Football
Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football
in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in
the world. The team have only qualified for a major
international tournament once in their history, when Wales
qualified for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. However, Wales did
progress through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-
final, which was played on a home and away leg basis.
Although part of the United Kingdom, Wales has always had
a representative side that plays in all the major professional
tournaments, though not in the Olympic Games, as the IOC
has always recognised United Kingdom representative sides.
Wales were placed in Group A for qualification for the 2014
FIFA World Cup tournament alongside Croatia, Serbia,
Belgium, Scotland and Macedonia.

10. Women's football in England
 While women's football has been played in England for over a
century, it has only been in the 1990s that the game has seen
a large increase in female players, as well as in female
spectators, culminating in England hosting the Women's
European Championships in 2005.
 In the period from early in the First World War until the
Football Association's ban on women playing football on the
grounds of its affiliates in 1922 (which lasted for 40 years)
women's football was very popular and a true rival to the
men's game. One match featuring the Dick, Kerr's Ladies
team from Preston, played at Goodison Park, Liverpool on
Boxing Day 1920, attracted a crowd of 53,000 with another
10,000 - 15,000 reported turned away because the ground was
full.

11. National football museums
 England: The National
Football Museum Based at
Deepdale in Preston,
Lancashire. Holds
collections of
International, European
and National significance.
Charts the history of
football and the game in
England.

13. National football museums
 Scotland: The
Scottish Football
Museum Housed at
Hampden Park in
Glasgow. Holds
collections of
International and
National significance.
Charts the history of
Scottish Football.