Portal:English football

James Peter Greaves MBE (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players, he is England's fifth-highest international goalscorer with 44 goals, which includes an English record of six hat-tricks, and is Tottenham Hotspur's second-highest all-time top goalscorer. Greaves is the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football with 357 goals. He finished as the First Division's top scorer in six seasons, more times than any other player and came third in the 1963 Ballon d'Or rankings. He is also a member of the English Football Hall of Fame.

Greaves began his professional career at Chelsea in 1957 and played in the following year's FA Youth Cup final. He scored 124 First Division goals in just four seasons before being sold to Italian club A.C. Milan for £80,000 in April 1961. His stay in Italy was unsuccessful and he returned to England with Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £99,999 in December 1961. Whilst with Spurs, he won the FA Cup in 1961–62 and 1966–67, the Charity Shield in 1962 and 1967 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962–63; he never won a league title but did help Spurs to a second-place finish in 1962–63. He moved to West Ham United in a player exchange in March 1970 and retired the following year. After a four-year absence, he returned to football at the non-league level despite suffering from alcoholism. In five years, he played for Brentwood, Chelmsford City, Barnet and Woodford Town before retiring for good in 1980.

• ...that Ray Wilson, who was the eldest member of England's victorious 1966 World Cup team (statue pictured), became an undertaker after he retired from football?

• ...that the English footballer David Layne scored 58 goals in 81 games for Sheffield Wednesday F.C. before he was jailed for his involvement in the British betting scandal of 1964?

• ...that although England centre forward Geoff Hurst had scored a hat-trick and was therefore entitled to keep the match ball, it was German striker Helmut Haller who took it home after the 1966 World Cup final?

• ...that Tommy Johnson holds the record for the most goals scored by a Manchester City player in a single season?

• ...that the first player to score a hat-trick during the final of a World Cup was Geoff Hurst in England's 4-2 win against Germany in the 1966 World Cup? Two of his goals scored within 120 minutes are controversial, though.

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" refers to the English men's tournament. The equivalent competition for women's teams is the FA Women's Cup.

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world, commencing in the 1871-72 season. Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament, although lower division teams rarely reach the final. A record 762 teams were accepted into the FA Cup in 2011-12, which is to date, the most amount of entrants. In comparison, the League Cup can involve only the 72 members of The Football League (which organises the competition) and the 20 teams in the Premiership for a total of 92 eligible teams. The team who have won the most FA Cups throughout the competition's history is Arsenal, having won it on 14 occasions. Manchester United are second on the list on Cup wins on 13 and hold the most appearances in the final, reaching the showpiece event 22 times, but they hold the most defeats there with 9. Everton and Chelsea have both lost one less, but the latter became the first team to lose three successive final appearances (2020, 2021, and 2022).

2024–25 in English football

Leagues

• 2024–25 Premier League
• 2024–25 English Football League
• 2024–25 EFL Championship
• 2024–25 EFL League One
• 2024–25 EFL League Two
• 2024–25 National League

Cups

• 2024–25 FA Cup
• FA Community Shield
• 2024–25 FA Trophy
• 2024–25 EFL Cup
• 2024–25 EFL Trophy
• 2024–25 FA Youth Cup