Skip to main content
Home
plus.maths.org

Secondary menu

  • My list
  • About Plus
  • Sponsors
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Log in
  • Main navigation

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Collections
  • Podcasts
  • Maths in a minute
  • Puzzles
  • Videos
  • Topics and tags
  • For

    • cat icon
      Curiosity
    • newspaper icon
      Media
    • graduation icon
      Education
    • briefcase icon
      Policy

      Popular topics and tags

      Shapes

      • Geometry
      • Vectors and matrices
      • Topology
      • Networks and graph theory
      • Fractals

      Numbers

      • Number theory
      • Arithmetic
      • Prime numbers
      • Fermat's last theorem
      • Cryptography

      Computing and information

      • Quantum computing
      • Complexity
      • Information theory
      • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
      • Algorithm

      Data and probability

      • Statistics
      • Probability and uncertainty
      • Randomness

      Abstract structures

      • Symmetry
      • Algebra and group theory
      • Vectors and matrices

      Physics

      • Fluid dynamics
      • Quantum physics
      • General relativity, gravity and black holes
      • Entropy and thermodynamics
      • String theory and quantum gravity

      Arts, humanities and sport

      • History and philosophy of mathematics
      • Art and Music
      • Language
      • Sport

      Logic, proof and strategy

      • Logic
      • Proof
      • Game theory

      Calculus and analysis

      • Differential equations
      • Calculus

      Towards applications

      • Mathematical modelling
      • Dynamical systems and Chaos

      Applications

      • Medicine and health
      • Epidemiology
      • Biology
      • Economics and finance
      • Engineering and architecture
      • Weather forecasting
      • Climate change

      Understanding of mathematics

      • Public understanding of mathematics
      • Education

      Get your maths quickly

      • Maths in a minute

      Main menu

    • Home
    • Articles
    • Collections
    • Podcasts
    • Maths in a minute
    • Puzzles
    • Videos
    • Topics and tags
    • Audiences

      • cat icon
        Curiosity
      • newspaper icon
        Media
      • graduation icon
        Education
      • briefcase icon
        Policy

      Secondary menu

    • My list
    • About Plus
    • Sponsors
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    • Log in
    • Where are England footballers born?

      Salim Neil Khan
      15 June, 2021

      With the UEFA men's Championships now in full swing we ask an important question: which part of England can claim the bragging rights for producing the most England international football players?

      England players

      Percentage of boys born according to region of England from 1991-2003

      Which part of England produces the best players? This photo show Marcus Rashford (born in Manchester) playing for England against Belgium at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Кирилл Венедиктов, CC BY-SA 3.0.

      In order to answer the above question we should first create a list of the men who have played for the England 1st team. (Let's keep it to those born post WWII, i.e. after 1945, as that is often considered the modern era). We can then tally them according to which region of England they were born in.
      *As of May 31, 2021.
      RegionNo. of England players*
      East25
      East Midlands25
      London89
      North East39
      North West89
      South East30
      South West11
      West Midlands36
      Yorkshire and Humber33
      Outside of England16
      Total393

      We can see that 393 men born after 1945 played for England. The joint highest contributors were London and the North West, each producing 89 England players. Interestingly, more men played for England who were born outside England (16), than those who were born in the South West (11).

      However, these figures don't tell the whole story. Some regions have larger populations than others so have a greater opportunity for producing international players. This should be taken into account.

      Births in regions

      We can obtain the number of boys born in each region by filtering the databases produced by the Office for National Statistics. (Unfortunately, the relevant data only go back to 1991 but nevertheless we can use this to help estimate the relative birth rates in the different regions).

      Then, for each year, for each region, we can calculate

      % of boys born in that region=100×no. of boys born in that regiontotal no. of boys born in England.

      The most recent birth of someone who has played for England was 2003, so calculations are only needed up until that point.

      Percentage of boys born according to region of England from 1991-2003

      Percentage of boys born according to region of England from 1991-2003.

      We can see that the relative birth rates in the regions remained reasonably steady over the period 1991-2003. (Actually, London did appear to be on a slight upward trend during that period and the North West on a slight downward trend, but for ease of calculation let's assume that these changes are ironed out pre-1991). Hence, we can obtain an approximation for a constant to represent each region's relative birth rate:

      Relative birth rate=100×total no.of boys born in the region 1991 to 2003total no.of boys born in England 1991 to 2003.
      No. of boys born 1991-2003Relative birth rate (%)
      East42973910.7
      East Midlands3277198.1
      London68073916.9
      North East1982874.9
      North West55756713.8
      South East63039715.6
      South West3587618.9
      West Midlands44020110.9
      Yorkshire and Humber40611410.1
      Total4029524100

      So, of boys born in England during 1991-2003, 16.9% were born in London but only 4.9% were born in the North East. We should incorporate this variation into our quest to find the most proliferate England player-producing region.

      England player density

      By dividing the number of England players born in the region by the relative birth rates in each region, we can obtain a fair measure of each region's ability to produce an England player. Let's call this measure the region's England player density.

      England player density=No. of England playersRelative birth rate.
      No. of England playersRelative birth rateEngland player density
      East2510.72.34
      East Midlands258.13.07
      London8916.95.27
      North East394.97.93
      North West8913.86.43
      South East3015.61.92
      South West118.91.24
      West Midlands3610.93.30
      Yorkshire and Humber3310.13.27
      Bar chart of player density

      We can see that the North East has the highest England player density and so could lay claim to being the region most likely to produce an England international player, whereas the South West takes the wooden spoon.

      So if you currently live in Cornwall and are planning to bet on a future son playing for England, you might be tempted to move to, say Newcastle. However it is worth remembering that only 393 boys born after 1945 went on to play for England. The total number of boys born in England between 1946 and 2003 was approximately 20 million! Hence, upping sticks 500 miles across the country might be considered a little rash in this scenario.


      About the author

      Slim Khan

      Slim Khan is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick, and is particularly interested in mathematics and statistics related to games and sports.

      • Log in or register to post comments

      Read more about...

      mathematics in sport
      football
      statistics
      University of Cambridge logo

      Plus Magazine is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.
      Copyright © 1997 - 2025. University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

      Terms