The England national football team is the joint-oldest in the world, having contested the first ever official international football match with Scotland in 1872. Scotland, along with Wales and Ireland, would be England's exclusive opponents over the following 40 years as they contested the annual British Home Championship. In 1923, Wembley Stadium opened and became the team's home. A dispute with FIFA saw the Three Lions depart football's global governing body in 1928, so they did not make their debut at the FIFA World Cup until 1950; 16 years later they would win the competition for the first time, forever cementing 1966 in English football folklore. In the decades since, however, despite producing many world-class players, the narrative around England has been one of underachievement and heroic failure, with disappointing exits from international tournaments often the result of defeat in a penalty shoot-out. The Three Lions have enjoyed an impressive renaissance in recent years, though, reaching the final stages of both the World Cup and Euro championships.
