text: united kingdom national football team no united kingdom national football team currently exists , as there currently are separate teams representing each of the nations of the united kingdom ( england , scotland , wales and northern ireland ) 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 olympic games , where it is represented by the great britain olympic football team . background 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 an 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 . matches despite this , the home nations have previously united to play two friendly internationals against ' rest of europe ' representative sides . on both occasions , they included all four home nations : england , scotland , wales and northern ireland . despite northern ireland 's participation , both matches were played under the name of ' great britain ' . 10 may 1947 ; hampden park , glasgow : great britain 6 – 1 rest of europe 13 august 1955 ; windsor park , belfast : great britain 1 – 4 rest of europe 1947 : the match of the century the 1947 game , dubbed the ' match of the century ' , was played to celebrate the return of the home nations to fifa , which they had left in 1920 . for the match , played at scotland 's hampden park in front of 135 , 000 spectators , the great britain side wore a navy blue strip in honour of the host association . the gate receipts , totalling £ 35 , 000 , helped boost the finances of fifa , which had been damaged by the lack of competition during world war ii . on that occasion , the great britain team consisted of : frank swift ( england ) , george hardwick ( england ) , billy hughes ( wales ) , archie macaulay ( scotland ) , jackie vernon ( ireland ) , ron burgess ( wales ) , stanley matthews ( england ) , wilf mannion ( england ) , tommy lawton ( england ) , billy steel ( scotland ) , billy liddell ( scotland ) . goals : uk 1 – 0 roe , mannion 22nd minute ; 1 – 1 nordahl 24 ; 2 – 1 mannion 33 pen . ; 3 – 1 steel 35 ; 4 – 1 lawton 37 ; 5 – 1 74 ; 6 – 1 lawton 82 . 1955 : irish fa 's anniversary the 1955 game was played to celebrate the irish football association 's seventy - fifth anniversary . for this reason , the match was held at belfast 's windsor park , and the british team took to the field wearing northern ireland 's green strip . the great britain team fielded comprised : jack kelsey ( wales ) , peter sillett ( england ) , joe mcdonald ( scotland ) , danny blanchflower ( northern ireland ) , john charles ( wales ) , bertie peacock ( northern ireland ) , stanley matthews ( england ) , bobby johnstone ( scotland ) , roy bentley ( england ) , jimmy mcilroy ( northern ireland ) , billy liddell ( scotland ) . other matches two other games were played between wales and a team representing the rest of the united kingdom , with players from england , scotland , and northern ireland . the first match , in 1951 , commemorated the seventy - fifth anniversary of the football association of wales . the second match , in 1969 , commemorated the investiture of the prince of wales . in both cases , the england , scotland and northern ireland select team played under the name of ' rest of the united kingdom ' . 3 december 1951 ; ninian park , cardiff : wales 3 – 2 rest of the united kingdom 21 july 1969 ; ninian park , cardiff : wales 0 – 1 rest of the united kingdom there was also a match played at wembley in 1973 to commemorate the entry of the united kingdom , ireland and denmark into the european economic community . this match , called " the three " v " the six " , involved a select team from those three countries playing against a selection of players from the original six members of the eec : west germany , belgium , netherlands , luxembourg , france and italy . ten of the thirteen players used by " the three " were from the united kingdom , with only johnny giles and two danish players representing the other two countries . henning jensen and colin stein scored as the three won 2 – 0 . a great british team lined up against another rest of europe xi in 1965 for stanley matthews ' testimonial . europe won 6 – 4 . a scotland xi team played a rest of great britain team in a testimonial match for alan mullery . scotland were defeated 3 – 2 at craven cottage on 22 march 1976 . olympic team from the 1904 summer olympics to the 1972 summer olympics , and again for the 2012 summer olympics , the uk has competed in either the olympic football tournament or its qualifying competition . during the first tournament , played as a demonstration sport at the 1900 summer olympics but retrospectively accredited by the ioc , upton park f.c. represented the uk and won gold . following this great britain won gold medals at the 1908 and 1912 games . all ' great britain ' olympic football teams were organised by the football association ( fa ) with the acquiescence of the other home nations ' football associations , and after the fa scrapped the distinction between professional and amateur players in 1974 , no more british olympic teams were entered . although professional players were allowed into the olympics from 1992 , no british teams were entered because the individual home nations , rather than a unified team , participated in the qualifying competition . the 2012 summer olympics were hosted by london , which meant that great britain qualified as right of being host nation . after much discussion between the home nations and opposition from the northern irish , scottish and welsh associations , men 's and women 's teams organised by the ( english ) fa were entered to the 2012 olympics . universiade team at the universiade , the united kingdom team won three medals : two silver medals in 2011 and 2013 and a bronze medal in 1991 .