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Football has an administrative birth date. It is English.

On October 26, 1863, eleven London clubs met at the Freemasons' Tavern on Great Queen Street to establish a common set of rules. It would take six meetings, until December 8, to finalize the first text. The Football Association was born: the oldest federation in the world. Nine years later, on November 30, 1872, England faced Scotland in Glasgow, on the Hamilton Crescent pitch. Zero-zero in front of four thousand people. It was the first official international match in history.

The lions and the arch

The three lions did not originate in football. They are the royal arms of England, which appeared in the 12th century on the standards of the Plantagenet kings. The federation adopted them, in blue on a white background, and they eventually became the very nickname of the national team: the Three Lions.

Wembley opened in 1923, recognizable by its two white towers. Demolished and then rebuilt, it now features an arch over three hundred meters long, visible from much of London. It is where England hosts its matches, and it is where its greatest day took place: on July 30, 1966, in the World Cup final against West Germany, Geoff Hurst scored three goals and Bobby Moore lifted the trophy.

Bobby Charlton in midfield, Gordon Banks in goal, Bobby Moore in central defense: three positions, one same team, that of 1966.

The country that wrote the rules still bears the arms of its kings.

England's white kit has barely changed since 1872, that of the country where it all began.