The 1961–62 British Home Championship was a football competition played in the season preceding the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, for which only

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 ...

had qualified from the home nations. Although they were expected to do well in the World Cup, England suffered a poor home championship and were eventually dispatched from the World Cup by the eventual winner

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 ...

in the quarter finals. The Home Championship began very well for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, who in their first match scored a 6–1 defeat of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in Belfast. England could not match this pace in their encounter with

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 ...

who held them to a draw and became a contender for the title in the process. In the second game the Scots beat the Welsh 2–0 but England again failed to impress, again drawing 1–1 with the poor Irish. In the final matches, Wales beat Ireland comprehensively with

Mel Charles Melvyn Charles (14 May 1935 – 24 September 2016) was a Welsh international footballer. Charles played as both a centre-half and centre-forward, with his preferred position being at right-half. After a short stint on the Leeds United ground ...

taking all four goals and achieving second position, whilst England played Scotland knowing that only a win would get them the title. In the event, the impressive Scots ran out 2–0 winners, taking the championship and achieving a rare whitewash of the other three teams.

Table

Results

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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:British

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

1962 in British sport 1961–62 in Northern Ireland association football 1961–62 in English football 1961–62 in Scottish football 1961–62 in Welsh football