Match 7. Newspaper reports conflict on who was the actual captain against Wales on 18 January 1879.  Three reports, The Field, The Sportsman and Football Annual give the captaincy to goalscorer, Arthur Cursham, whilst The London Times, Athletic News and Bell's Life, gives it to Henry Wace.  The fact that Charles Alcock's own Football Annual lists Cursham makes us want to favour the Notts County forward, but one can never be sure and we will not commit ourselves with any degree of certainty.

Match 51. Various sources cannot decide who was captain for the match on 12 March 1894, probably Charles Wreford-Brown, but possibly goalscorer Cunliffe Gosling.  Wreford-Brown was by far the oldest in an inexperienced team, but neither Sporting Life, Manchester Guardian, North Wales Guardian, The Times, The Field, The Sportsman, Sporting Chronicle, and Northern Whig make mention of a captain.

Match 56. The captaincy on 7 March 1896 was probably given to George Raikes, at least according to Irish Saturday Night and The Irish Times.  The London Times gives a first captaincy to goalscorer, Gilbert Smith, and Vaughan Lodge is also a possibility. Many other sources do not specify any captain.

Match 57. After extensive research in the English and Welsh newspapers of the time and has not found a single contemporaneous record of England's captain for 16 March 1896.  Possibly goalscorer Gilbert Smith.

25	Gilbert Smith  Old Carthusians &  Corinthians
		28 March 1898	3-0 vs. Wales, Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	BC 1
		18 February 1899	13-2 vs. Ireland, Roker Park, Sunderland	BC 4
27	Ernest Needham  Sheffield United	18 March 1901	6-0 vs. Wales, St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne	BC1
33	Stanley Harris  Old Westminsters &  Corinthians	17 February 1906	5-0 vs. Ireland, Cliftonville Gardens, Belfast	BC 1

80	Kevin Keegan  Hamburger	19 April 1978	1-1 vs. Brazil, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		26 May 1979	3-1 vs. Scotland, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	BC 1
		13 June 1979	3-4 vs. Austria, Praterstadion, Wien	Fr 1
		12 September 1979	1-0 vs. Denmark, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		6 February 1980	2-0 vs. Republic of Ireland, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	ECP 2
		13 May 1980	3-1 vs. Argentina, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
	Southampton	6 June 1981	3-1 vs. Hungary, Népstadion, Budapest	WCP 1
		23 February 1982	4-0 vs. Northern Ireland, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	BC 1

90	Bryan Robson  Manchester United	12 June 1985	3-0 vs. West Germany, Estadio Azteca, ciudad de México	TC 1
		16 October 1985	5-0 vs. Turkey, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
		26 February 1986	2-1 vs. Israel, Ramat-Gan Stadium, Tel Aviv	Fr2
		1 April 1987	2-0 vs. Northern Ireland, Windsor Park, Belfast	ECP 1
		14 October 1987	8-0 vs. Turkey, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		11 November 1987	4-1 vs. Yugoslavia, Stadion JNA, Beograde	ECP 1
		15 June 1988	1-3 vs. Netherlands, Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf	ECF 1
		8 February 1989	2-1 vs. Greece, Olympiakó Stádio Spiros Louis, Athína	Fr 1
		8 March 1989	2-0 vs. Albania, Stadiumi Kombetar Qemal Stafa, Tiranë	WCP 1
		13 December 1989	2-1 vs. Yugoslavia, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 2

93	Gary Lineker  Tottenham Hotspur	12 September 1990	1-0 vs. Hungary, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		17 October 1990	2-0 vs. Poland, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		25 May 1991	2-2 vs. Argentina, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		3 June 1991	1-0 vs. New Zealand, Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Fr 1
95	Stuart Pearce  Nottingham Forest	8 June 1991	2-0 vs. New Zealand, Athletic Park, Wellington	Fr 1
93	Gary Lineker  Tottenham Hotspur	12 June 1991	4-2 vs. Malaysia, Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur	Fr 4
		13 November 1991	1-1 vs. Poland, Stadion Lecha, Poznań	ECP 1
		29 April 1992	2-2 vs. CIS, Central V.I. Lenin Stadium, Moskva	Fr 1
95	Stuart Pearce  Nottingham Forest	18 November 1992	4-0 vs. Turkey, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1

96	David Platt  Juventus	17 February 1993	6-0 vs. San Marino, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 4
		31 March 1993	2-0 vs. Turkey, Atatürk Stadyumu, İzmir	WCP 1
		28 April 1993	2-2 vs. Netherlands, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
	Sampdoria	16 November 1994	1-0 vs. Nigeria, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		3 June 1995	2-1 vs. Japan, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	TC1
		8 June 1995	3-3 vs. Sweden, Elland Road, Leeds	TC 1
	Arsenal	18 May 1996	3-0 vs. Hungary, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1

99	Alan Shearer  Newcastle United	1 September 1996	3-0 vs. Moldova, Stadionul Republican, Chişinău	WCP 1
		9 October 1996	2-1 vs. Poland, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 2
		30 April 1997	2-0 vs. Georgia, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
		31 May 1997	2-0 vs. Poland, Stadion Śląski, Chorzów	WCP 1
		7 June 1997	1-0 vs. France, Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier	TC 1
		22 April 1998	3-0 vs. Portugal, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	Fr 2
		15 June 1998	2-0 vs. Tunisia, Le Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	WCF 1
		30 June 1998	2-2 vs. Argentina, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne	WCF 1
		5 September 1998	1-2 vs. Sweden, Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna	ECP 1
		14 October 1998	3-0 vs. Luxembourg, Stade Josy Barthel, Stad Lëtzebuerg	ECP 1
		28 April 1999	1-1 vs. Hungary, Népstadion, Budapest	Fr1
		9 June 1999	1-1 vs. Bulgaria, Stadion Balgarska Armia, Sofiya	ECP 1
		4 September 1999	6-0 vs. Luxembourg, Wembley Stadium, Wembley	ECP 3
		10 October 1999	2-1 vs. Belgium, Stadium of Light, Sunderland	Fr 1
		17 June 2000	0-1 vs. Germany, Stade Communal, Charleroi	ECF 1
		20 June 2000	2-3 vs. Romania, Stade Communal, Charleroi	ECF 1

103	David Beckham  Manchester United	24 March 2001	2-1 vs. Finland, Anfield Road, Liverpool	WCP 1
		25 May 2001	4-0 vs. Mexico, Pride Park, Derby	Fr 1
		6 June 2001	2-0 vs. Greece, Olympiakó Stádio Spiros Louis, Athína	WCP 1
		6 October 2001	2-2 vs. Greece, Old Trafford, Manchester	WCP 1
		10 November 2001	1-1 vs. Sweden, Old Trafford, Manchester	Fr1

103	David Beckham  Manchester United	7 June 2002	1-0 vs. Argentina, Sapporo Dōmu, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo-shi	WCF 1
		12 October 2002	2-1 vs. Slovakia, Tehelné pole, Bratislava	ECP 1
		16 October 2002	2-2 vs. FYR Macedonia, The Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium, Southampton	ECP 1
		29 March 2003	2-0 vs. Liechtenstein, Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz	ECP 1
		2 April 2003	2-0 vs. Turkey, Stadium of Light, Sunderland	ECP 1

104	Michael Owen  Liverpool	11 June 2003	2-1 vs. Slovakia, The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough	ECP 2
103	David Beckham  Real Madrid	20 August 2003	3-1 vs. Croatia, Portman Road, Ipswich	Fr1
		6 September 2003	2-1 vs. FYR Macedonia, Gradski Stadion,Skopje	ECP 1
		18 August 2004	3-0 vs. Ukraine, St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne	Fr 1
		9 October 2004	2-0 vs. Wales, Old Trafford, Manchester	WCP 1
104	Michael Owen  Real Madrid	13 October 2004	1-0 vs. Azerbaijan, Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika Stadionu, Baku	WCP 1
103	David Beckham  Real Madrid	30 March 2005	2-0 vs. Azerbaijan, St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne	WCP 1
104	Michael Owen  Newcastle United	12 October 2005	2-1 vs. Poland, Old Trafford, Manchester	WCP 1
103	David Beckham  Real Madrid	25 June 2006	1-0 vs. Ecuador, Gottlieb Daimler Stadion, Stuttgart	WCF 1
106	John Terry  Chelsea	16 August 2006	4-0 vs. Greece, Old Trafford, Manchester	Fr 1
		1 June 2007	1-1 vs. Brazil, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		28 May 2008	2-0 vs. United States, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
107	Rio Ferdinand  Manchester United	11 October 2008	5-1 vs. Kazakhstan, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
106	John Terry  Chelsea	19 November 2008	2-1 vs. Germany, Olympiastadion, Berlin	Fr 1
		1 April 2009	2-1 vs. Ukraine, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
105	Steven Gerrard  Liverpool	12 June 2010	1-1 vs. United States, Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg	WCF 1
		11 August 2010	2-1 vs. Hungary, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 2
109	Frank Lampard  Chelsea	12 November 2011	1-0 vs. Spain, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
108	Wayne Rooney  Manchester United	12 October 2012	5-0 vs. San Marino, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 2
109	Frank Lampard  Chelsea	22 March 2013	8-0 vs. San Marino, Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle	WCP 1
105	Steven Gerrard  Liverpool	6 September 2013	4-0 vs. Moldova, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
		15 October 2013	2-0 vs. Poland, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1

108	Wayne Rooney  Manchester United	3 September 2014	1-0 vs. Norway, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr1
		9 October 2014	5-0 vs. San Marino, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		12 October 2014	1-0 vs. Estonia, A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	ECP 1
		15 November 2014	3-1 vs. Slovenia, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		18 November 2014	3-1 vs. Scotland, Celtic Park, Glasgow	Fr 2
		27 March 2015	4-0 vs. Lithuania, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		14 June 2015	3-2 vs. Slovenia, Stadion Stožice, Ljubljana	ECP 1
		5 September 2015	6-0 vs. San Marino, San Marino Stadium, Serravalle	ECP 1
		8 September 2015	5-0 vs. Switzerland, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		17 November 2015	2-0 vs. France, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		27 June 2016	1-2 vs. Iceland, Allianz Riviera, Nice	ECF 1

119	Harry Kane  Tottenham Hotspur	10 June 2017	2-2 vs. Scotland, The National Stadium, Glasgow	WCP 1
		13 June 2017	2-3 vs. France, Stade de France, Saint-Denis	Fr2
		5 October 2017	1-0 vs. Slovenia, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
		8 October 2017	1-0 vs. Lithuania, LFF stadionas, Vilnius	WCP 1
		2 June 2018	2-1 vs. Nigeria, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
		18 June 2018	2-1 vs. Tunisia, Volgograd Arena, Volgograd	WCF 2
		24 June 2018	6-1 vs. Panama, Stadion Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod	WCF 3
		3 July 2018	1-1 vs. Colombia, Otkritie Arena, Moskva	WCF 1
		18 November 2018	2-1 vs. Croatia, The National Stadium, Wembley	NLP 1
		22 March 2019	5-0 vs. Czech Republic, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		25 March 2019	5-1 vs. Montenegro, Stadion Pod Goricom, Podgorica	ECP 1
		7 September 2019	4-0 vs. Bulgaria, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 3
		10 September 2019	5-3 vs. Kosovo, St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton	ECP 1
		11 October 2019	1-2 vs. Czech Republic, Sinobo Stadium, Praha	ECP 1
		14 October 2019	6-0 vs. Bulgaria, Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofija	ECP 1
		14 November 2019	7-0 vs. Montenegro, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 3
		17 November 2019	4-0 vs. Kosovo, Stadiumi Fadil Vokrro, Prishtinë	ECP 1

119	Harry Kane  Tottenham Hotspur	28 March 2021	2-0 vs. Albania, Air Albania Stadium, Tiranë	WCP 1
		31 March 2021	2-1 vs. Poland, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 1
125	Marcus Rashford  Manchester United	6 June 2021	1-0 vs. Romania, Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough	Fr 1
119	Harry Kane  Tottenham Hotspur	29 June 2021	2-0 vs. Germany, National Stadium, Wembley	ECF 1
		3 July 2021	4-0 vs. Ukraine, Stadio Olimpico, Roma	ECF 2
		7 July 2021	2-1 vs. Denmark, National Stadium, Wembley	ECF 1
		2 September 2021	4-0 vs. Hungary, Puskás Aréna, Budapest	WCP 1
		8 September 2021	1-1 vs. Poland, Stadion Narodowy, Warszawa	WCP 1
		12 November 2021	5-0 vs. Albania, The National Stadium, Wembley	WCP 3
		15 November 2021	10-0 vs. San Marino, San Marino Stadium, Serravalle	WCP 4
		26 March 2022	2-1 vs. Switzerland, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
122	Raheem Sterling  Manchester City	29 March 2022	3-0 vs. Côte d'Ivoire, The National Stadium, Wembley	Fr 1
119	Harry Kane  Tottenham Hotspur	7 June 2022	1-1 vs. Germany, Allianz Arena, München	NLP 1
		26 September 2022	3-3 vs. Germany, The National Stadium, Wembley	NLP 1
		4 December 2022	3-0 vs. Senegal, Āstād āl-Bayt, Al Khawr	WCF 1
		10 December 2022	1-2 vs. France, Āstād āl-Bayt, Al Khawr	WCF 1
		23 March 2023	2-1 vs. Italy, Stadio Diego Maradona, Napoli	ECP 1
		26 March 2023	2-0 vs. Ukraine, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 1
		16 June 2023	4-0 vs. Malta, Stadium Nazzjonali, Ta' Qali	ECP 2
		19 June 2023	7-0 vs. North Macedonia, Old Trafford, Manchester	ECP 1
	Bayern München	12 September 2023	3-1 vs. Scotland, The National Stadium, Glasgow	Fr 1
		17 October 2023	3-1 vs. Italy, The National Stadium, Wembley	ECP 2
		20 June 2024	1-1 vs. Denmark, Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt	ECF 1
		30 June 2024	2-1 vs. Slovakia, Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen	ECF 1
		6 July 2024	2-1 vs. Netherlands, Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund	ECF 1
		10 September 2024	2-0 vs. Finland, National Stadium, Wembley	NLP 2
		17 November 2024	5-0 vs. Republic of Ireland, National Stadium, Wembley	NLP 1

Trivia: Of the 661 British Championship goals, England Captain's were responsible for scoring thirty of them, possibly even as much as 33 goals, depending on the source.

Notes: Scoring in matches as captain in a row:-
Vivian Woodward did it first, scoring six in three captaincies in a row - 1908, and he did it again, scoring another eight in three captaincies in 1909.

Kevin Keegan, in the summer of 1979, scored four in four. Bryan Robson then scored five goals in three captaincies in 1984. Alan Shearer, after scoring in his first two as captain, then did three in a row in 1997. Despite his twenty goals as captain - he never did it again, never more than two matches in a row, anyway. Michael Owen did four in three, these were spaced out two in 2003, one in 2004 and the last in 2005. Step forward Wayne Rooney.... who scored six in five in 2014-15. He then did four in four in 2015.

From being awarded the armband - the history is thus:-
Jack Goodall did it first - scored two goals in his only two captaincies. 1891-94, David Jack then scored one each in his first two captaincies in 1930. Mick Channon scored three in his first (and only) two captaincies 1976-77. Gary Lineker scored in each of his first two captaincies in 1990. However, David Platt managed five in his first three in 1993. Alan Shearer scored in each of his first two in 1996, as did Michael Owen in 2002.

Harry Kane, spans both lists, in his first eight captaincies in 2017-18 he scored twelve goals.

CG