Why has England struggled on penalties, and has that changed?

An honest look at England's painful penalty history and the psychology, tactics and history behind their shootout struggles.

Penalty shootouts have long been a sore subject for England fans, and few topics generate as much discussion among supporters as England penalties. This piece looks honestly at England's shootout history, the most painful moments, whether the reputation for bad luck really holds up, and how much has changed in more recent tournaments.

England's penalty shootout record

The England penalty record makes for a genuinely mixed read once the full England penalty shootout history is laid out. England have taken part in 11 penalty shootouts across the World Cup, European Championship and Nations League, winning four and losing seven. At the World Cup specifically, England lost their first three shootouts, against West Germany in 1990, Argentina in 1998 and Portugal in 2006, before finally winning one against Colombia in 2018. That 2018 win is significant, since it marked a genuine turning point rather than a one off.

For close to three decades, England's shootout record was one of the most reliable sources of tournament heartbreak in English football, to the point where penalties were often discussed as an inevitability of any deep England run rather than a mere possibility. That reputation was built up over a long period and, understandably, took years of better results to start shifting in the public consciousness.

The most painful moments

Among the moments people mean when they talk about England worst penalty misses, several stand out. The 1990 semi final defeat to West Germany and the 1996 semi final loss to Germany at Euro 96, after beating Spain on penalties in the previous round, both rank among the most painful moments in England's tournament history. The 2004 quarter final defeat to Portugal and further shootout losses to Italy at Euro 2012 and in the Euro 2020 final added to a reputation that followed the team for decades.

Each of these defeats became attached to specific missed penalties and specific players in the national memory, often unfairly given how much of a shootout depends on the goalkeeper's guess and simple luck as well as technique. That tendency to fixate on individual misses, rather than the process as a whole, is part of what made England's penalty history feel so much more painful than the underlying statistics perhaps warranted.

Is it really bad luck?

To anyone asking why does England lose on penalties so often, bad luck is not a satisfying explanation on its own, since shootouts are also about preparation, temperament and practice, all things a team has some control over. For much of England's history, shootouts were treated as a lottery rather than something to train for specifically, which may explain the long losing run better than misfortune alone. It is also worth noting that England's overall record looks considerably worse if measured only by their pre 2018 history, since the picture has changed significantly since then.

Sports psychology has increasingly focused on exactly this area in recent years, with several national federations, England included, investing in specific penalty preparation, from analysing opposition goalkeepers to rehearsing the walk from the halfway line under simulated pressure. That shift in approach lines up closely with the point at which England's results from the spot began to improve, suggesting the old excuse of simple misfortune was never the full story.

Has anything changed under recent managers?

Yes, and quite dramatically. Since Gareth Southgate took charge in 2016, England have won three of their four shootouts, including the 2018 World Cup win over Colombia and a quarter final win over Switzerland at Euro 2024, with the only defeat coming in the Euro 2020 final against Italy. That is a strong record by any standard, and it undercuts the idea that England are simply destined to lose from the spot. Whether that improved record holds under the current management remains to be seen, but the evidence of the last decade suggests England's penalty problem has been addressed rather than being some permanent curse.

Reports from within the England camp during the Southgate era pointed to detailed, individualised penalty preparation, including analysis of specific goalkeepers and repeated practice under matchday-like pressure, rather than the previous approach of a handful of practice kicks at the end of a normal training session. That shift in mentality, treating shootouts as a skill to be coached rather than a lottery to be endured, is widely credited as the biggest single factor behind England's improved record since 2016.

A reputation worth revisiting

England's penalty history is genuinely painful in places, but the idea that the team always struggles on penalties is now out of date. The last decade has told a very different story, and if England reach the knockout rounds of this World Cup, recent history offers rather more encouragement than the old reputation suggests.

Old habits die hard in football punditry, and England's penalty curse is likely to be mentioned again the moment any tournament match heads to a shootout. The facts, however, tell a more encouraging story for supporters than the familiar narrative suggests, and it is one that deserves to be updated as often as it is repeated.

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