In the first half of the 20th century there were matches which were promoted as “England” but were not a national side as accepted today. Once the Women’s Football Association (WFA) became established in the 1960s it co-ordinated the activities of various regional leagues, set up a national cup competition and in 1971/72 the first official England side. The inaugural match was played on 18 November 1972 against Scotland in Greenock with a final score of 3-2 - goals by Sylvia Gore, Lynda Hale and Jeannie Allott for England, and for the Scots, Mary Carr and Rose Reilly.  The first England captain was Sheila Parker from Chorley in Lancashire and the first manager former professional footballer and an FA senior staff coach, Eric Worthington.

Funds were in short supply. Consequently, England activities were for several years confined to Europe.  Particularly against the other home nations, with England beating Scotland and Wales in the only Home International tournament played during the WFA years.   

The first official England international to be played on the ground of a Football League club was on 9 November 1973 at Reading FC and on 31 October 1978 at Southampton’s former ground, The Dell, the WFA recorded an attendance of 5,471 against Belgium – at that time a record crowd.

In September 1981 England accepted an invitation from the Japanese FA to play against Japan and Denmark in Kobe and Tokyo. Italy also made the trip but England did not play them on that occasion. Japan was exercising a little long-term planning with their sights set on improving their national women’s team. It paid off with them winning the World Cup in 2011.

During the 1980s the Mundialito was organised in Italy each summer with England winning it twice – the first in 1985 and the second in 1988.  The 1988 victory also brought the accolade to England of “Team of the Year” at the inaugural Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards.

The international governing bodies started to take a serious interest in women’s football with UEFA creating the UEFA Competition for National Representative Women’s Teams, in 1982.  This was the forerunner of the European Championship which England won in July 2022.   In the 1984 two-legged final England were beaten on penalties by Sweden.   

England trailed by a single goal after the Gothenburg first leg, but Linda Curl scored at Luton Town FC to take the match into extra-time and the penalty shoot-out. In the 2009 Final, a silver medal was the reward when England lost to Germany 6-2.  As the saying goes “revenge is a dish best served cold” and England’s moment came at Wembley in July 2022 with their 2-1 win over Germany to become European Champions.

Two invitational competitions brought England victory in 2019 in the She Believes Cup and first place in the 2022 and 2023 Arnold Clark Cup, the latter staged on home turf.

FIFA had organised what amounted to a trial World Cup in China in 1988 before launching the first World Cup, also in China, in 1991. England did not qualify to participate until the 1995 competition where they were beaten in the quarter-finals by Germany. They next qualified in 2007 where they were defeated in the quarters by the USA and at the same stage in 2011 they lost to France, this time on penalties.   

England’s best showing so far in the World Cup was in 2015 where they finished third beating Germany 1-0 in extra-time. 2019 saw England finish the tournament in fourth place losing to the USA in the semi-final and to Sweden in the 3/4th place match. Australia/New Zealand host the 2023 edition where England will seek to improve on their previous showings this time under the guiding hand of Sarina Wiegman.

Learn about the wider history of women’s football in England below: