The World Cup is just around the corner and all eyes are on England as they look to end 56 years of hurt and finally win their second major international trophy.
The Three Lions, of course, triumphed in 1966 as Alf Ramsay’s side beat West Germany at Wembley in a historic final.
England famously also reached the Euros final in 2021 at Wembley, but how about any other finals?
How many times have England been in the World Cup final?
Sadly for any supporters of the Three Lions, England have only ever reached one World Cup final.
That final goes down as one of the greatest in history as Geoff Hurst’s controversial hat-trick sealed a 4-2 win over West Germany.
The other goals in that final were scored by Martin Peters, Helmut Haller and Wolfgang Weber.
Unfortunately, England have never been able to repeat the trick of reaching the World Cup final since, but at least their 100 per cent winning record in such games remains intact – a record that only England, Uruguay and Spain can claim.
Any close calls?
So, England have only ever reached one World Cup final before, but have they come close since?
Yes, England have since reached two semi-finals coming within a whisker of a second final on both occasions.
The first was in 1990 where England lost to West Germany in a penalty shootout with Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missing from the spot to seal England’s fate.
England would again reach a semi-final once again in 2018, but a 2-1 loss to Croatia after extra-time would condemn Gareth Southgate’s side to the same fate they faced in 1990.
On both occasions, England would go on to lose the third-place play-off to both Italy and Belgium respectively.
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