151 people have officially served as captains of the England national football teams. The current
captains
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
are
Harry Kane
Harry Edward Kane (born 28 July 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the England national team. A prolific goalscorer with strong link play, Kane is regarded as one of ...
(
men's) and
Leah Williamson
Leah Cathrine Williamson (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Arsenal and captains the England women's national team. A versatile player, she plays in central defence or the midfi ...
(
women's
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
).
The first England captain was
Cuthbert Ottaway
Cuthbert John Ottaway (19 July 1850 – 2 April 1878)''Jackson's Oxford Journal'', 6 April 1878. was an English footballer. He was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in the first official international football ma ...
; he captained England in the first ever international match, against
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
on 30 November 1872. He went on to captain England on just one further occasion, the third international match, on 7 March 1874, against the same opposition.
Alexander Morten
Alexander Morten (some sources say "Alec Morten") (15 November 1831 – 24 February 1900) was a footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He captained the England team in its second official international, played against Scotland on 8 March 1873. ...
captained England in their first international on home soil, 8 March 1873, also against Scotland, and was the first international captain to win a match. Having previously played for Scotland against England, this was his only international appearance for England. Morten remains England's oldest captain.
The first unofficial women's international match was contested by England and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1920, with the
Dick, Kerr Ladies
Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. was one of the earliest known women's association football teams in England. The team remained in existence for over 48 years, from 1917 to 1965, playing 833 games, winning 759, drawing 46, and losing 28. During its early ye ...
"England" side captained by
Alice Kell
Alice Cook (née Kell; 24 June 1898 – 2 December 1972) was an association football player and the first captain of Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C., one of the first prominent female football teams in the world. She played in their inaugural match at ...
.
The England women's team was authorised in 1972 by the
Women's Football Association
The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...
(WFA), originally unaffiliated with
the Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
(FA), and had
Sheila Parker
Sheila Parker (née Porter; born 1947) is an English former international football defender. In November 1972 she captained the England women's national football team in their first official match, a 3–2 win over Scotland in Greenock. ...
as its first captain. The official England women's first international match was played against
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
on 18 November 1972, in anticipation of the centenary of the equivalent men's match. Parker remained in her role for four years before being left out of the 1976 British Home Championship; her replacement,
Carol Thomas (née McCune), was only 20 with five prior caps when she took the armband,
and retained it for nearly a decade. Women's players between 1972 and 1993 were not all officially recognised until 2022; there were also several prior to 1972, who were not sanctioned and are not recognised. Thomas is England's youngest official captain under the WFA;
Keira Walsh
Keira Fae Walsh (born 8 April 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club FC Barcelona Femení, Barcelona and the England women's national football team, England women's national team. She is considered ...
is England's youngest official captain under the FA;
Carol Wilson and
Casey Stoney
Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national football te ...
unofficially served as captains when younger than Thomas and Walsh.
Billy Wright set the record for most captaincies of his country in 1959, with 90.
Bobby Moore
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...
, who remains England's youngest men's captain and the only England captain to have lifted the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
, reached 90 captaincies in 1973, sharing the record with Wright.
Steph Houghton
Stephanie Jayne Darby (, , born 23 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England women's national team. At club level, Houghton started at Sunderland in her native Nor ...
has the record for captaincies of the women's team, and outright second-most caps as captain behind Wright and Moore, with 72. Seven male players were captain in their only international cap, the last of these being in 1925.
Several women's matches have seen two players start as co-captains.
[ The most players known to wear the captain's armband for England in one match is four, which has happened twice. On 3 June 2003, ]Michael Owen
Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...
started as captain before Emile Heskey
Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who currently serves as head of football development of Leicester City Women. Playing as a striker, he made more than 500 appearances in the Foo ...
took over at half time, Phil Neville
Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammate ...
replaced him in the sixty-first minute, and Jamie Carragher
James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's vic ...
was handed the armband in the eighty-seventh. On 30 November 2021, Millie Bright
Millie Bright (born 21 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Chelsea and the England national team. She previously played for Doncaster Belles, Leeds Ladies and represented England on the under-19 an ...
started as captain before Ellen White took over at half time, Keira Walsh replaced her in the sixtieth minute, and Alex Greenwood took the armband in the seventy-first.
Men's team
Captain chronology
* Bold indicates current captain
*''Italics'' indicates still-active players
* Source unless specified:
Captains by tournament
*Bold indicates tournament winners
*''Italics'' indicates tournament hosts
*Source:
Women's team
Captain chronology
* Bold indicates current captain
*''Italics'' indicates still-active players
* indicates player was captain for matches under the Women's Football Association
The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...
Captains by tournament
*Bold indicates tournament winners
*''Italics'' indicates tournament hosts
Captains by appearances as captain
Figures include all recognised matches up to 22 February 2023. Only confirmed captaincies of named captains are counted.
The default order for this list is by most appearances as captain, then chronological order of first captaincy.
* Bold indicates permanent captain of England
*''Italics'' indicates still-active players
* Sources unless specified:[Men's matches (Englandfootballonline.com indices):]
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Captains by age
* Bold indicates permanent captain of England (not necessarily at time of the relevant match/es)
Youngest captains
Players who started as captain at under 25 years of age.
Oldest captains
Players who started as captain at over 35 years of age.
Others
Disputed captains
These players may have officially captained England, but sources are either uncertain or differ.
Unofficial captains
The following players have never been named, i.e. started a match as, captain, but were given the armband partway through a match after that game's captain was either sent off
In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...
or substituted
A substitution reaction (also known as single displacement reaction or single substitution reaction) is a chemical reaction during which one functional group in a chemical compound is replaced by another functional group. Substitution reactions ar ...
. As records for such mid-game changes are not often kept, this list may be incomplete:
Amateurs
For a period after the introduction of professionalism, the England team split into two teams that represented the nation internationally, one only including amateur players. This or other amateur English teams also represented Great Britain at the Olympics, when known as "England" in certain early competitions.
Captains of other non-official teams
Before the men's and women's teams each became officially associated, different teams represented them in international tournaments.
*Bold indicates tournament winners
Non-official captains by appearances as captain
The following players have never captained England officially, but have started a match as named captain of a team representing England, with the match and/or team not officially recognised:
Only known, confirmed, non-official caps as captain are included.
Others by age
* Bold indicates permanent captain of England (not necessarily at time of the relevant match/es)
Unofficial young captaincies
Unofficial old captaincies
Notes
References
External links
England football captains database
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of England National Football Team Captains
captains
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
Association football player non-biographical articles