When did England, Wales, and Scotland play their first soccer games?
England, Wales, and Scotland will all be in action as September’s UEFA Nations League fixtures roll around, continuing their long history of competing on the international stage.
Earlier this week, what is believed to be one of the first-ever red Welsh football tops was unearthed while a former Football Association of Wales (FAW) official was moving from their Cardiff home.
It is set to be displayed in the Welsh Football Museum (WFM) in Wrexham in 2026, providing a symbol from the beginning of a footballing story that continues to write new chapters today.
World Soccer Talk is turning the pages back to the very start of such stories, revisiting the first fixtures played by each of England, Wales, and Scotland.
England and Scotland
New interim manager Lee Carsley has named his first England squad ahead of September meetings with the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
Meanwhile, Scotland boss Steve Clarke will hope to bounce back from a disappointing outing at the European Championships as his side take on Poland and Portugal.
Nearly 152 years ago, on Nov. 30, 1872, England met Scotland in what FIFA recognizes as the oldest official international fixture in world football. Taking place at the Scotland Cricket ground at Hamilton Crescent, the match attracted approximately 2,500 spectators. Though the occasion was a memorable one, the fixture was less so – ending in a 0-0 draw.
Five unofficial clashes between England and Scotland played out in the two years prior. This was the first to truly capture the spirit of international football. Those fixtures were almost exclusive for players from the London area, meaning that several players representing Scotland were not Scottish.
A different vision for the fixture was subsequently laid out by FA General Secretary Charles Alcock. Alcock wrote to the chief newspapers in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He threw down the gauntlet for a football fixture between 11 Englishmen and 11 Scots.
The Glasgow-based Queen’s Park Football Club accepted the challenge. The game was eventually on St Andrew’s Day. The Scots wore blue, as they do today. England sported white shirts emblazoned with the Three Lions badge and a red and navy crown.
Wales
Wales will don their iconic red shirts as they face Türkiye in their opening fixture of the 2024/25 Nations League.
They have worn red as their primary color for over a century. A recent rediscovery of the shirt confirmed that in the early 1900s. That kit featured a red dragon crest, a red base and white accents on the collar and sleeves.
However, their first official football fixture was in 1876. That predates the red strip which only came into play nearly a quarter-century later.
Like England, Wales traveled to Scotland for their first official international encounter. A Wrexham-based solicitor, Llewelyn Kenrick, placed an advert in the newspaper to recruit players for the fixture. It brought together a team including a stonemason, miner and chimney sweeper who journeyed to Glasgow.
They comfortably fell to the Scots, 4-0. Wales went on to lose its next seven games before finally tasting victory against England in 1881.
PHOTOS: IMAGO