Why Do England Men's Football Team Continue to Struggle Against Top-10 Nations
The England men's national football team consistently ranks among the world's top five best footballing nations, along with Brazil, Argentina, France, and usually another European team. However, unlike other top five or top ten footballing nations, England never seem to ‘turn up and play’ at major tournaments.
Let's dive straight in to find out why this might be.
Why do England struggle to win major football competitions?
There's no doubt that the English Premier League is the best domestic football league in the world and that many of today's best football stars on the global stage are English, such as Harry Kane, who now plays in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and Jude Bellingham, who plays in Spain's La Liga for Real Madrid.
In fact, if you go back over thirty years, many of the world's best footballers who have played for top clubs in England and around Europe were born in England.
However, England has only ever won the FIFA World Cup on one occasion, and that was in 1966. They have never won a UEFA Euro competition or Nations League tournament
There have been many reasons given for why England never do well at these major events, ranging from lack of quality in the team to getting unlucky with injuries in key games.
Some say that they fail to turn up to important games, and others point out that England are well-known for being terrible at penalty shootouts. You also have those who say that England gets unlucky on the day.
Quite often, even the most optimistic England fans bet against their home nation on their favourite sports betting sites.
This is because they have zero percent confidence that England will beat certain other teams, especially the top-10 footballing nations on the official FIFA world rankings.
For example, instead of sports bettors spending their entire $130 free bet using the 1xbet promo code on England to win a major tournament outright, savvy bettors tend to avoid placing bets on England winning in favour of betting on them to lose.
Where is England on the FIFA rankings going into Euro 2024?
England is currently ranked at number 3 on the official FIFA rankings as we march towards the 2024 UEFA Euro football competition. The tournament is scheduled to run from June 19 until July 19.
The official top 10 FIFA World Rankings currently look like this:
- Argentina
- France
- England
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- Spain
- Italy
- Croatia
Can England win the upcoming Euro 2024 football competition?
The quickest, easiest, and most reliable way to determine if England can win Euro 2024 is to check the latest odds. Despite England (#3) being behind France (#2) on the FIFA World Rankings, England are the current odds-on favourite team to win the tournament outright this year.
They are currently priced, on average, at around 3/1 in the fractional odds format, meaning they have a 25.00% implied probability rate of winning Euro 2024 outright. 3/1 is the same as +300 in the American/moneyline odds format and 4.00 in the decimal odds format.
In comparison, the second odds-on favourites, France, are currently priced at around 4/1 (+400 or 5.00) with a 20.00% implied probability rate.
Final thoughts
Many England fans are more confident than ever going into Euro 2024 and believe that this is the year England will win their first major tournament in several decades.
However, others remain less optimistic and still feel that England will fail at the final hurdle, just like they always do.
Players like Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, and Harry Kane will be looking to make history and win their first-ever UEFA Euro tournament. Anything is possible in football, and we will just have to wait and see what happens.
