The men's national football teams of the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom have played each other more times than any other footballing nations in the world. The world's first international football match was played between Scotland and England in Glasgow in 1872 (a 0–0 draw). From then on, all four teams started playing regular friendlies against each other. In 1883 a formal competition between the UK's teams, the British Home Championship, was introduced, guaranteeing that each team would play the other three at least once a season. The Championship was discontinued in 1984, partly due to problems of crowd trouble, and partly due to the desire of England (and to a lesser extent Scotland) to contest international fixtures against larger and more powerful nations.
While the British Home Championship was being played, the UK teams were also drawn together on a number of occasions during qualification competitions for the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship. Early tournaments simply used the British Championship as a qualifying group, but during qualification for the 1974 World Cup, England and Wales were drawn in the same group. Subsequent to this, three more qualification tournaments saw UK teams drawn together while the British Championship was being played. Since the end of the British Home Championship, the teams have played each other mainly when drawn together in international competitions such as the European Championship or the World Cup, with occasional friendly fixtures.[1][2][3][4]
At men's major national tournaments, Home Nations teams have met four times at the UEFA European Championships. England and Wales played the first ever Home Nations tie at a World Cup when they played each other at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with England winning the match 3–0.[5]
^First match between British countries at a major championship
^First match between British countries played outside the UK and Ireland.
^First match involving Northern Ireland and another British team played outside the UK and Ireland; first knockout match between any two British countries in a major tournament.
The British Home Championship (also known as the Home International Championship, the Home Internationals and the British Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (the last of whom competed as Ireland for most of the competition's history). Starting during the 1883–84 season, it was the oldest international football tournament and it was contested until the 1983–84 season, when it was abolished after 100 years.
Seven British Overseas Territories have a national football team affiliated to FIFA – Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands. All play within the CONCACAF (North American) area, with the exception of Gibraltar. This makes fixtures between the Home Nations and the overseas territories rare, although the North American overseas territories play between each other often.
In 2013, the Gibraltar Football Association became a member of UEFA enabling their national team to play international fixtures. This opened the possibility of Gibraltar playing against a Home Nation during the qualification phase of major international competitions. To date, there have been three matches between Gibraltar and one of the Home Nations – Scotland played them twice as part of their UEFA Euro 2016 qualification group, beating them on both occasions; and Wales defeated them in a friendly match. These fixtures are the only occasions when a Home Nation and an overseas territory have played each other in an official international match.
In addition to games in competitions sanctioned by FIFA, friendlies and competitions have taken place that are unsanctioned, and therefore not counted as official internationals. One of the most notable competitions is the Island Games, an Olympics-style multi-sport event taking place every two years between various islands. The following list includes games played by teams of British territories that are members of either FIFA or one of FIFA's affiliated continental confederations.
The Muratti Vase is an annual tournament between the three major island sides of the Channel Islands - Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. Originally established in 1905, the competition takes the form of two matches; a semi-final between Alderney and one of the other two sides, with the winner playing the third side in the final. Prior to the Second World War, a draw would take place to determine the two semi-finalists, but since 1948 Jersey and Guernsey have played the semi-final in alternate years.
Because membership of the International Olympic Committee is taken by Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a single nation, a single British football team is required to participate in the Olympic football tournament. Up to the 1972 Olympics, a team was organised by The Football Association based around the England amateur team. This team participated in both the qualifying and final Olympic tournaments, as well as in preparatory games leading up to the competition. Some of these games, which served as trial games for players, were played against other British national teams, while the Great Britain team also played a handful of friendlies against national teams that were, at the time, still overseas territories of the United Kingdom.[6]
England
Northern Ireland (as 
Ireland between 1882 and 1950)
Scotland
Wales
England
Wales
Knock Ground, Belfast
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Gibraltar
Estádio Algarve, Faro
British Virgin Islands
Bermuda
Guernsey
Isle of Man
Jersey
Cayman Islands
Montserrat
Turks and Caicos Islands
Falkland Islands
Great Britain
Uganda
