The 1959–60

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

tournament was played by the British

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

throughout the 1959–60 season and was shared between three of the competing teams at the expense of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Football at the United Kingdom was at a low point in 1959 and 1960, following the failure of the national sides (except

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

), to perform well in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil ...

two years before. A part of the problem involved the deaths of senior members of all four national sides at the Munich air disaster in early 1958. England had also suffered a further loss of confidence following poor form in a pre-season tour of the Americas, losing three games in a row to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

4–1 and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. An 8–1 victory over a weak

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in the final match did little to raise their spirits. The title was shared between three teams who were unable to beat each other but all managed a victory over the hapless Irish. The Scots started well, with a 4–0 drubbing of their opponents in Belfast whilst the English and Welsh played out a tame draw. This set the tone for the tournament, with the Irish losing their subsequent matches with more respectable scorelines but still unable to gain a point. The Scots could not capitalise on their good start and were held by England and Wales in their subsequent matches whilst the Welsh took their draws and narrowly beat Ireland in their last match to claim their own third share of the title. Goal difference was not at this stage used to differentiate between the teams. if it had been, Scotland would have won with Wales and England again tied for second.

Table

Results

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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Home 1959-60 1959–60 in Northern Ireland association football 1959–60 in English football 1959–60 in Scottish football 1959–60 in Welsh football 1960 in British sport 1959 in British sport