Portugal is another team that has produced multiple players who would easily be the best English player of all time, but lumping them in with Greece seems right.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

LÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖLLLLL

INGERLUND!

That was basically the pliocene.

Still we're more a powerhouse than Spain, our football history is richer than just Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets. Just watch them go back to what they've always been:

Spain belong on the list with England. They had two great tournaments (Eurocup, World Cup) when Xavi/Iniesta was in its prime. Since then and before not much except excuses.

It's like Modric/Rakitic/Perisic - this is is a one time deal where a middling country fields a truly amazing team.

No. 98 was way better than anything since. They had the experience of getting to a semi in the Euros. Owen at his young best. Seaman in his prime. Shearer on pens. Scholes playing in the correct position. Decent holding players. Excellent at the back

Yeah but not after they had won their first.

They became World Champion for the first time in 1984, and then repeated the feat in 1998 and 2000.

fact: england among the 4.1% most successful football nations on earth

Spain were pretty much a nobody before 2008 but three straight world championships is pretty impressive. Ranking UEFA nations I'd go

1. DEUTSCHLAND
2. Italy
3. France
4. Spain
5. Netherlands

huge wow @ ranking a non-world cup winning nation over england, which is a confirmed world cup winning nation. the hate has sent you mental

Holland won a World Championship in 1988

Also,

inventing modern football >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> cheating in '66.

Dutch made 3 WC finals, narrowly missed two more finals on penalties (98 and 14) and shipped a Euro.

England have made 1 WC final (won) and never made an Euro final.

Netherlands > England.

Ranking over the last 20 years

1.France

lmao @ sort by 2nd place trophies

technically we are the 6th greatest footballing nation because a tie is traditionally broken by who got there first, but i'm gracious enough to share 6th-9th equally with france, spain and croatia

Yeah, and if you want to read about the 1978 final, you'll find out that they pretty much never had a chance of winning that.

England is like our divergent ancestor in the states. We share the same predisposition to play footie all wrong.

Don't forget the invented modern football trophy. They should have won it in the 70s but they didn't so modern football never came home and ENGLAND > Lolland. Maybe they'll win it eventually if they ever bother to qualify for a tourney again.

in all seriousness there are various legit claims to be the #1 football nation on earth. england invented the game, have by far the best league itw and are a world cup winning nation. holland and spain are the birthplaces of unique and enduring styles of play. argentina are also a world cup winning nation and plus they gave the world the goat, and also the goat for those that are old and wrong. brazil have won the most world cups out of anyone. west germany had great success in international tournaments before becoming a defunct nation, but they gave the world hitler and are therefore disqualified

on balance i think england are the clear choice, others may disagree and they have a right to do so

ok, this is hilarious

Wait, West Germany gave the world Hitler?

West Germany GÖAT ÖAT!

Brah please do try to keep up.

West Germany:
-3 FIFA World Cups
-2 UEFA World Cups

Germany:
-1 FIFA World Cup
-1 UEFA World Cup
-Hitler (****ing immigrants)

Well, I guess when we produced Hitler, we were lacking some Lebensraum in the East, so yeah, West Germany gave the world Hitler seems correct.

No country that has been banned from the World Cup can claim to be the GOAT. This includes:

West Germany, East Germany, Japan, South Africa, Chile, Argentina*, Spain**, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina & Montenegro. I'll give Kosovo a pass.

* Should have been DQed for Maradona's PED use
** Will be retroactively banned for state sponsored EPO use

Brazil is like 210mm people, Netherlands couldn't qualify for a 24 team Euros from a 25 team qualifying competition, Italy always cheat and France only exists because we bailed them out so many times. Taking these factors into consideration: England are the GOAT.

So the wins at Euro 1964 and 2012 (and 1984 euro final) qualify as "not much except excuses"? Thank you for that take.

spain made it past the quarters once since 1950. gjge. the only ppl who have any business thinking spain have any football credentials are yanks that started watching in 2010