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United Kingdom National Football TeamThe United Kingdom is the only country in the world which does not currently have a national football team. Instead, it has four different teams representing the different constituent nations — England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The reason for this is that the sport was codified in England and the first international game was a organised one-off match between England and Scotland in 1872; few imagined at the time that the game would spread across the world and become its most popular sport. The home nations' professional teams tended to play each other - England did not play opposition from outside the British Isles until 1908, Scotland until 1929 - and did not take part in a World Cup until 1950. This was partly because of insular attitudes of the home football associations, and partly due to the home nations' superior ability until the early 1930s. England, being by far the largest of the home nations, have been the only team to have any major success internationally, with their World Cup win in 1966; Scotland have famously never progressed beyond the group stage of any international tournament, while Northern Ireland haven't qualified for a tournament finals since 1986, and Wales since 1958. Olympic team The United Kingdom did (under the title of Great Britain) however send amateur teams to the Olympics, and won the gold medal in the first official football tournament in the 1908 games. These teams were, in general, predominantly English and were managed by the English Football Association. The last occasion when a United Kingdom team reached the Olympic finals was in 1960, and after the Football Association scrapped the distinction between professional and amateur players in 1974, no more UK Olympic teams were entered. Since then, Olympic rules have been relaxed to allow professionals to take part, but there has been no return of a UK team. However, the issue has recently been raised as a result of London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, with a proposed Great Britain team for that tournament specifically. The proposal has met with caution, with the Scottish Football Association, Football Association of Wales and Irish Football Association fearing it would lead to the existence of a permanent United Kingdom team http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=856&id=1438442004. As of 2005, no decision has been made on whether a unified team will be sent to the 2012 games or not. Future prospects Many see the chance of a permanent British national team being long gone, with over 100 years of history standing behind the separate teams of the home nations. As well as being opposed by the home nations' football associations http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,2763,404368,00.html, as a United Kingdom team would most likely be dominated by English players, it would probably not be supported by the majority of fans in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. In addition, a unified United Kingdom team would have repercussions on the continual existence of the four nations' separate football associations, their separate league and cup competitions, and their representation on the International Football Association Board (which decides on the laws of the game). Recent proposals to reinstate the British Home Championship http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4253161.stm indicate that none of the home associations are inclined to create a permanent unified national side in the near future. External links
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