England have been playing international football matches since 1872 and while that first game against Scotland ended in a goalless draw, there have been plenty of occasions over the years when the Three Lions have gone goal crazy and racked up a cricket score.
Here we document the biggest wins in the national team’s history, some of which stretch back almost 150 years.
5 – Portugal 0 England 10 (1947); USA 0 England 10 (1964); San Marino 0 England 10 (2021)
There have been three occasions when England have won 10-0, the first of which was against Portugal in 1947 when the goals came from an all-star cast.
Tommy Lawton netted the first after just 17 seconds and he and Blackpool’s Stan Mortensen both ended up with four goals. The other two came from the country’s greatest ever wingers, Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews.
Debutant Fred Pickering helped himself to a hat-trick and Roger Hunt netted three times when the USA were beaten by the same scoreline in New York 17 years later, while Harry Kane was on target four times when England won in San Marino just two years ago.
4 – Austria 1 England 11 (1908)
The other big England wins were all before the First World War and their trip to Vienna was a particularly fruitful one in 1908.
Tottenham inside-right Vivian Woodward scored four goals and Sheffield Wednesday’s Frank Bradshaw was a hat-trick hero.
However, despite his exploits and the fact he was unable to play in the next international because of an injury, Bradshaw was never selected again.
3 – England 12 Netherlands 2 (1907)
There was an even bigger victory only six months earlier and Woodward was again at the heart of the action, scoring three times at Feethams, the former home of Darlington.
However, his efforts were eclipsed by Glossop’s William Stapley, a centre-half who incredibly chipped in with five goals.
2 – England 13 Ireland 2 (1899)
Another goal-fest also occurred in the north east, a little further north at Sunderland where Ireland were beaten 13-2 just before the turn of the 20th century.
Brothers Frank and Fred Forman were both on target in the win and Ireland may consider themselves a little fortunate as the defeat could have been even worse for the visitors. Jimmy Crabtree missed a penalty for the home side, so they got off lightly.
1 – Ireland 0 England 13 (1882)
England’s biggest win came 17 years earlier in Belfast in what was Ireland’s first international fixture, and one that they will de desperate to forget.
Arthur Brown, who was the first player from Aston Villa to play for England, was on target four times while Howard Vaughton went one better by scoring five times.
Vaughton also took his place in football history for another reason. A silversmith by trade, his company was tasked with making the FA Cup trophy after the original was stolen from a BIrmingham shop window in 1895 and never recovered.
