Tuesday, November 5, 2024

England’s 58 years of hurt – by numbers

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England play Spain in the final of Euro 2024 on Sunday and Gareth Southgate’s team have the chance to win their country’s first men’s major trophy since 1966.

If England are victorious in Berlin it will end a drought — the so-called 58 “years of hurt” — that has lasted from the moment Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick against West Germany helped win the 1966 World Cup final.

Since that triumph at Wembley Stadium, 21,168 days have passed. There have been 13 different Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. At the time of that 4-2 victory on home soil, the Big Mac was still nine months away from being released and only four James Bond films had come out. Oh, and another World Cup would be staged before Southgate was even born.

Here, The Athletic takes a look at the numbers, names and facts behind England’s decades-long quest to win a second major tournament.

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The 457 players

England have used 457 players since the 1966 World Cup final. These men have come from 70 different clubs (more sides than there are in the Premier League, Championship and League One combined).

The player with the earliest date of birth to appear for England since the 1966 World Cup triumph is Ray Wilson, born in December 1934, and the one with the most recent is Kobbie Mainoo, born in April 2005 — a gap of almost 71 years. Tony Adams (October 1966) was the first man born after the World Cup win (July 30, 1966) to play for England, making his debut in February 1987.

Peter Shilton has played the most number of games in this period with 125 caps while, at the other end of the scale, 79 men have played just once for England since the World Cup triumph.

Here are the 10 players to have played the most games for England since the 1966 final:

And here are those 79 men who have earned just one cap:

One cap for England since 1966 World Cup

Player Year Player Year

John Hollins

1967

Gavin McCann

2001

Alex Stepney

1968

Michael Ball

2001

Michael O’Grady

1969

Michael Ricketts

2002

Mick Jones

1970

Lee Bowyer

2002

Ian Storey-Moore

1970

David Dunn

2002

Colin Harvey

1971

Francis Jeffers

2003

Tommy Smith

1971

Alan Thompson

2004

Anthony Brown

1971

Anthony Gardner

2004

Jeff Blockley

1972

Chris Kirkland

2006

John Richards

1973

Joey Barton

2007

Phil Parkes

1974

David Nugent

2007

Brian Little

1975

Dean Ashton

2008

Phillip Boyer

1976

Kevin Davies

2010

Jimmy Rimmer

1976

Jay Bothroyd

2010

Charlie George

1976

Matthew Jarvis

2011

John Gidman

1977

Fraizer Campbell

2012

Trevor Whymark

1977

Martin Kelly

2012

Alan Sunderland

1980

John Ruddy

2012

Peter Ward

1980

Steven Caulker

2012

Paul Goddard

1982

Carl Jenkinson

2012

Steve Perryman

1982

Ryan Shawcross

2012

Nicholas Pickering

1983

Jay Rodriguez

2013

Nigel Spink

1983

Jon Flanagan

2014

Brian Stein

1984

Ryan Mason

2015

Peter Davenport

1985

Nathan Redmond

2017

Danny Wallace

1986

Jack Cork

2017

Mel Sterland

1988

Dominic Solanke

2017

Brian Marwood

1988

Lewis Cook

2018

Mike Phelan

1989

Nathaniel Chalobah

2018

Mark Walters

1991

Alex McCarthy

2018

Andy Gray

1991

Mason Greenwood

2020

David White

1992

Harvey Barnes

2020

Kevin Richardson

1994

Dean Henderson

2020

Neil Ruddock

1994

Patrick Bamford

2021

David Unsworth

1995

James Justin

2022

Chris Sutton

1997

Levi Colwill

2023

Lee Hendrie

1998

Eddie Nketiah

2023

Steve Guppy

1999

Rico Lewis

2023

Seth Johnson

2000

Jarrad Branthwaite

2024

Adam Wharton

2024

Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka all have the chance to become the first Englishmen to play in two major tournament finals on Sunday, having all featured against Italy in the final of Euro 2020.


The overall record

England have played 652 matches since winning the World Cup in 1966 (the final in Berlin will be the 653rd). They have won 362 of those games, drawn 177 and lost 112. One match was abandoned, against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in 1995 due to crowd trouble, but all players were awarded caps for the fixture.

The country they have played the most times in this period is Scotland with 33. The side they have lost to the most often is Germany/West Germany with 13 defeats.

England’s biggest win since 1966 was the 10-0 thrashing of San Marino in a World Cup qualifier in November 2021 and their heaviest defeat was the 4-0 humbling at the hands of Hungary in a Nations League fixture at Molineux in June 2022.


The top scorers

England have scored 1,161 goals since the 1966 World Cup final, with Harry Kane’s 66 the most of any player.

These goals have been scored by 182 different men, with Roger Hunt netting the first against Northern Ireland in October 1966 and Ollie Watkins the most recent against the Netherlands in July 2024.

Here are England’s top scorers since the 1966 final:

England’s two scorers in the 1966 final, Hurst and Martin Peters, scored 19 and 18 international goals respectively after that match at Wembley.

The only instances of an England player winning the Golden Boot at the World Cup or European Championship since 1966 (as well as before that) are Gary Lineker at the 1986 World Cup, Alan Shearer at Euro 1996 and Harry Kane at the 2018 World Cup.

Kane is still in the hunt for the award at Euro 2024 and is tied at the top of the standings on three goals with five other players.

If the England captain does win the Golden Boot at this tournament he will become just the fourth player in history to win the award at the World Cup and European Championship, after the Soviet Union’s Valentin Ivanov and Yugoslavia’s Drazan Jerkovic at Euro 1960 and the 1962 World Cup (the award was shared at both tournaments), and Gerd Muller for West Germany at the 1970 World Cup and Euro 1972.

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The most goals scored in a game by a player since 1966 is Malcolm Macdonald’s five against Cyprus in a European Championship qualifier in 1975. Macdonald scored all of England’s goals that day, in a 5-0 win, and four of them were headers.

The then Newcastle United forward scored just six goals for England in his career and never found the net again for his country after that glut against the Cypriots.

England have benefitted from 40 own goals in this period, the first coming from Wales’ Terry Hennessey in November 1966 and the most recent scored by North Macedonia’s Jani Atanasov in November 2023.

The fastest England have scored from kick-off since the 1966 final was when Bryan Robson found the net after 27 seconds against France at the 1982 World Cup.


Robson celebrates after scoring against France in 1982 (Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Overall, England have scored six goals inside the first minute of matches since the World Cup triumph. Three of these have been scored by Robson (also 1982 v Northern Ireland and 1989 v Yugoslavia), one by Hurst (v Switzerland in 1971), one by Lineker (v Malaysia in 1991) and one by now-manager Southgate (against South Africa in 2003).

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The managers

Including caretakers, 18 managers have taken charge of England since the 1966 World Cup. That is every manager in the national team’s history apart from Walter Winterbottom — who was in charge from 1946 to 1962.

Sir Alf Ramsey, England’s manager when they triumphed in 1966, carried on in the job until April 1974.

Southgate (Euro 2020 and Euro 2024) is the only one of these managers to guide England to a final since 1966. Ramsey (Euro 1968), Sir Bobby Robson (1990 World Cup), Terry Venables (Euro 1996) and Southgate (2018 World Cup, Euro 2020 and Euro 2024) are the only managers to reach semi-finals in this period.

Sam Allardyce, with victory in his only match in charge in 2016, has the highest win percentage of these managers with 100 per cent. The one with the lowest (excluding caretakers) is Kevin Keegan with 39 per cent.

Keegan resigned after defeat by Germany in a World Cup qualifier in the final game at the old Wembley Stadium in October 2000 after a failed experiment of playing a 30-year-old Southgate in a holding midfield role.


Keegan departs the pitch, and his role, against Germany at Wembley (Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)

Tournament record

Euro 2024 is the 29th major tournament (World Cup and European Championship) since the 1966 World Cup.

England have qualified for 22 of these tournaments and missed out on seven. This is how they have got on in each of them:

England’s tournament record since 1966

Tournament Performance

Euro 1968

Semi-finals

World Cup 1970

Quarter-finals

Euro 1972

DNQ

World Cup 1974

DNQ

Euro 1976

DNQ

World Cup 1978

DNQ

Euro 1980

Group stage

World Cup 1982

Second group stage

Euro 1984

DNQ

World Cup 1986

Quarter-finals

Euro 1988

Group stage

World Cup 1990

Semi-finals

Euro 1992

Group stage

World Cup 1994

DNQ

Euro 1996

Semi-finals

World Cup 1998

Last 16

Euro 2000

Group stage

World Cup 2002

Quarter-finals

Euro 2004

Quarter-finals

World Cup 2006

Quarter-finals

Euro 2008

DNQ

World Cup 2010

Last 16

Euro 2012

Quarter-finals

World Cup 2014

Group stage

Euro 2016

Last 16

World Cup 2018

Semi-finals

Euro 2020

Final

World Cup 2022

Quarter-finals

Euro 2024

In final

Here is a comparison with other countries in this period:

If Southgate’s team secure victory over Spain in Berlin it would mean that every country that has won the World Cup (Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, France and Spain) has also won their main continental championship.


Then and now

Clearly the world has changed enormously in the 58 years since England men’s only major trophy was won.

Back in 1966, the currency used in the United Kingdom was the pre-decimal ‘pounds, shillings and pence’ and things cost a lot less money back then. Adjusting for inflation, a pint of beer in the UK would have cost an average of £1.80 when England won the World Cup. Now it is £4.70.

The average price of a house in the UK in 1966 was an inflation-adjusted £32,000. Now, it is £282,000.


Moore receives the Jules Rimet trophy from Queen Elizabeth II (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The first moon landing with humans on board was still almost three years away when Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy on that Saturday afternoon in 1966, there were still no cash machines in the country, there was no such thing as a Rubik’s Cube and the first email was still five years away from being sent.

But, should Kane — born in Walthamstow, north London, just six miles away from Moore’s birthplace — hold aloft the European Championship trophy in the German capital this weekend, all those years of hurt will be over.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

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