The British Home Championship was the world’s oldest international football tournament. The national teams of England, Ireland (later Northern Ireland) Scotland and Wales first competed during the 1883–84 season. It was played for 100 years until the whistle was blown on the competition in 1984.

England and Scotland contested the first international association football match in 1872.

Unifying the codes brings about the opportunity for competition.

46 years before Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, the best of the four British national sides could stake a claim to be the football champions of the world.

Scotland had won three of the first four Championships, sharing one with England. Having lost narrowly to the Scots in 1887, England were desperate to go one better.

The 1901/02 season saw England and Scotland field teams made up entirely of professional players for the first time. The final game of the tournament saw the two sides face off at Rangers’ Ibrox Park.

England and Scotland had dominated the tournament’s first 23 years. Could Wales’s rise threaten the status quo?

Finishing in last place 17 times during the first 30 years of the Home Championship, Ireland were the worst performing nation. Spurred on by a first victory over England in 1913, Ireland set their sights on the prize.

The end of hostilities allows the resumption of competitive football, while one of the game’s greatest players still dreams of defeating England.

Although the Home Championship had been played for 50 years, until 1935, no team had lifted a trophy.

Although the first FIFA World Cup had taken place in 1930, the home nations had taken no part. In the 1949/50 season, however, the Home Championships were to double as a qualifying round for the 1950 World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Places in Brazil were to be given to both the winners and runners up, but Scotland announced that they would only go if they won outright. Having finished second to England, they declined their invitation, and while England played in Brazil, they failed to impress on the world stage.

Following England’s victory in the final of the previous year’s World Cup, the 1967 Home Championship took on a greater significance. If one of the other nations were to beat England to the title, could they claim to have usurped England’s place as World Champions?

The unofficial title could be claimed by Scotland if they were to beat England in the final match at Wembley on 15 April.

George Best’s Northern Ireland never qualified for the World Cup, neither had they won the Home Championship during his international career.

Following troubles both on and off the pitch, social unrest in the British Isles and declining attendances, the Home Championships were abolished in its centenary year.

Browse our shop for British Home Championship products and memorabilia.