England Football Formation

Lineup (4-2-4)

Gordon Banks · Bobby Moore (c) · Billy Wright · Jimmy Armfield · Eddie Hapgood · Duncan Edwards · Bobby Charlton · Kevin Keegan · Stanley Matthews · Tom Finney · Jimmy Greaves

England Greatest XI of All Time 0001


As the proud inventor of the game, England has been a leading power in world football for well over a century.

As such, its ranks are filled with phenomenal players from every era of the game. Some primarily known through tales and legends, others through weekly appearances in full HD on our television sets. But there’s no question that England’s glory days as the Land of Football lasted, at best, until the 60′s. Consequently, England’s ideal XI ought to heavily feature players from that time frame, when England could field the world’s best players.

The formation chosen for England is the classic 4-2-4 played when most of the elected players were in their prime.



Goalkeeper ~ Gordon Banks
Banks is one of those men who will always be remembered for one moment: saving Pelé’s header in the 1970 World Cup with an ‘impossible’ reflex. But Banks was much more than a man of one moment. In his time, Banks was regarded as the second greatest goalie in the world – second only to the flawless Lev Yashin – an ultra reliable defender between the posts who helped England to glory in the 1966 World Cup. Peter Shilton and David Seaman may have ended up with more caps – they lacked the sheer brilliance of Banks.

Right Back ~ Jimmy Armfield
”The Best Right Back in the World”. That’s what they called Jimmy Armfield after he had made his appearance in the 1962 World Cup. Between 1962 and 1964 Armfield was also voted the best right back in Europe. Fate cursed him to stay forevertrophyless. Spending his full career with small Blackpool, his one chance for glory came with the 1966 World Cup. He was naturally included in the squad , but injury meant he had to miss out on that tournament. Still he would end runner-up behind Bobby Charlton as the best English player of 1966. Armfield narrowly defeats Liverpool legend Phil Neal.

Right Centre Back ~ Billy Wright
Billy Wright was a player of such class that in 1957 he won, like Moore 13 years later, the Silver Ball for the second best player in Europe. An excellent achievement for a purely defensive player. But Wright was no ordinary defender. Thanks to his leadership and great jumping and tackling ability, he became the first man in history to earn 100 caps for his country. Wright captained England a record 90 of those matches. He also led his club Wolverhampton Wanderers to three FA Cup and thee League triumphs. All of this puts him well above Neil Franklin – a cultured defender who won 30 caps before being banned from the England team by choosing to play as a pro in a foreign league. Those were the days.

Left Centre Back ~ Bobby Moore
Bobby Moore was a defender of such class that, had he been of any other nationality, he would have been in that side’s all-time team. No questions asked. No matter the competition. Moore was, perhaps, the greatest defender in football history. The great Pelé himself called Moore the best defender he’d ever played against. Moore was instrumental in captaining England to their 1966 success. He went on to win 108 caps, and more impressively, played every minute of all those 108 games. Won the Silver Ball in 1970 for Europe’s second best player. Rio Ferdinand, in his prime, was an excellent defender, but no competition for Moore.

Left back ~ Eddie Hapgood
England’s vast football history is such that for the position of left back, we can go all the way back to the Interbellum to find a legitimately great player. Eddie Hapgood. ‘The Ambassador of the Game’, as he was called. The great captain of Herbert Chapman’s all-conquering Arsenal side. Hapgood was originally somewhat of lightweight, physically, but through dedicated exercising he developed a powerful body and married his natural composure and class to strength and speed. After five league triumphs in the span of eight seasons, the now England captain’s playing career was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War. One of his final acts as England captain was refusing to give the Nazi salute in a friendly game with Germany.

Defensive Midfielder – Duncan Edwards
A controversial choice. Can you really pick anyone over Bryan Robson? Worse, can you prefer a man with 18 caps over a man with 90 caps? Yes, if that 18-capped player is Duncan Edwards – the greatest player that could have been. The fatal 1958 plane crash cut his life short, and robbed football from one its brightest prospects. Bobby Charlton said of him “He is the best player i´ve ever seen. The only one who made me feel inferior.” A player with great physical and defensive abilities, Edwards was also gifted with great skills on the ball. As Matt Busby described him: ”Duncan had everything. He was so big, so strong, so confident and still so young. Right from the start we gave up trying to spot flaws in his game.”. He made his debut for Manchester United at 16. His first game for England followed two years later, and he’d soon lead the team to major success, scoring a ‘wonder goal’ goal for England against West-Germany. Captain Billy Wright observed: “The name of Duncan Edwards was on the lips of everyone who saw this match; he was phenomenal. There have been few individual performances to match what he produced that day. Duncan tackled like a lion, attacked at every opportunity and topped it off with that cracker of a goal. He was still only 19, but was already a world-class player.” But it’s not just teammates that praise him. Two months before his death, he was voted third best player in Europe. Bryan Robson? No chance.

Attacking midfielder – Sir Bobby Charlton
Widely recognized as England’s greatest footballer of all time, Bobby Charlton was a midfielder with excellent stamina, mastery over the ball and goal scoring abilities. To this day he is England’s top goalscorer, with 49 goals in 106 games. Charlton rose through the ranks at Manchester United as part of a fabulous generation of youngsters – most of whom died as a result of the Munich air disaster in 1958. Charlton surived. Still only 20, he was now expected to help carry the club and foster a new generation. And so he did. Flanked by Denis Law and George Best, Charlton led Manchester United to European glory. And not just United. The star player of the 1966 World Cup, he was awarded the Ballon d’Or that same year, and finished runner-up in the two following seasons. IFFHS has voted him England’s greatest footballer of the twentieth century. His place in any England all-time team is undisputed, as even Steven Gerrard will have to admit.

Right Winger ~ Sir Stanley Matthews
To this day, Stanley Matthews remains an absolute phenomenon. When he was voted the inaugural winner of the Ballon d’Or, he was already 41 years old. And at such a young age, he was far from done playing professional football. Seven years later, he won the award for England’s footballer of the year. He’d go on to play professional football until he had passed the age of 50. Achievements that, today, appear so incredible that they’re hard to believe. But such was the class of the The Wizard of the Dribble. David Beckham must humbly accept second place.

Left Winger ~ Sir Tom Finney
Another player whose career was cut in half by the Second World War. When the Football League resumed, in 1946, Tom Finney quickly established himself as one of England’s best forwards. A dribbler with great technique and balance, as well as a fine passer and header of the ball, he broke with the dogma commonly held at the time that wingers should be providers, not goal scorers. When Finney saw an occassion to score, he grabbed it with both hands, resulting in 30 goals for England – a record at the time. England may not have produced many great left wingers, but Finney certainly is one of them. John Barnes ranks second.

Second Striker – Kevin Keegan
Keegan is the only Englishman, the only Briton even, who won the Ballon d’Or on two different occassions. In both 1978 and 1979 he was crowned the best footballer of Europe. He won those awards for his unique combination of goal scoring proficiency, lion-hearted work rate, commanding leadership and, by the late 70′s, un-English skills on the ball. Captained England for six straight years, amassing 53 caps, his goalscoring record (23) has been surpassed by Wayne Rooney, but surely not his legacy of consistency, leadership and individual recognition.

Striker ~ Jimmy Greaves
If it’s true that every team needs a goal scorer, then every team wishes it had a Jimmy Greaves. A man renowned for his instinctive, never faltering striking abilities, Greaves scored 44 goals for England in 57 games, besides scoring 357 goals in league games. Despite being far and away England’s best striker in the very decade England won the World Cup, the only World Cup moment he’ll be remembered by is calming and catching a dog that had invaded the field in the 1982 England vs Brazil game. Four years later, he was struck by injury and had to watch from the sidelines as England won the World Cup. In this ideal England XI, it’s Gary Liniker who will have to watch from the side, as Greaves takes first spot.


Coach/Manager : Alfred Ramsey, Herbert Chapman, Jimmy Hogan and Fabio Capello.

Reserves include : Bryan Robson, Peter Shilton, Gary Lineker, Phil Neal, Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, Steven Gerrard, Ray Wilson, Tommy Lawton, Johnny Haynes, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand, John Barnes, Terry Butcher, Wilf Mannion, Frank Swift, Ray Clemence, Wayne Rooney, Stanley Mortensen, Jimmy Greaves, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles, Stuart Pearce, Neil Franklin, Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, David Beckam and Tony Adams.