11 Best Players To Score On Their England Debut | OneFootball

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Earlier this year, Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah was handed his first-ever England call-up but failed to make it off the bench in either match.

As a result, the striker is having to wait to win his first cap but looks set to become the next debutant for the Three Lions. If he does manage to find the net when he finally makes his international bow, he will join an elusive group of players who have all scored on their first start for their country.

Some of the nation's most famous ever players have scored on their debut, as well as some of the more forgettable names. Here at GiveMeSport, we thought we'd take a look at 11 of the best players throughout history to have bagged while making their first appearance in the famous white jersey.

11 Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford was always going to make this list because if there's one thing the forward knows how to do, it's score on his debut. The 25-year-old scored on his first start for Manchester United in the Europa League and on his Premier League debut against Arsenal as well as bagging in his first games in the EFL Cup and Champions League.

So when Roy Hodgson made the surprise decision to include him in his final squad for Euro 2016 when he was just 18, it was hardly a surprise to anyone that it took him just three minutes to become England's youngest-ever debutant goalscorer, when he found the net in a warm-up match against Australia, which the Three Lions won 2-1. Rashford now has 53 caps to his name and has scored 16 goals for his country, including three at the 2022 World Cup.

10 Roger Hunt

Roger Hunt was a formidable goalscorer for Liverpool between the years of 1958 and 1969 and won numerous trophies as manager Bill Shankly transformed the Reds into one of the greatest sides in English football history. Only Ian Rush scored more than his 285 for the club, so it's somewhat surprising that he only won 34 caps for his country, receiving his first call-up in 1962 for a friendly versus Austria.

He scored in a 3-1 win and would later be picked for the 1962 World Cup squad, although he didn't make a single appearance in Chile. Hunt would eventually make an impact on the global stage though, appearing in all six matches of England's 1966 World Cup triumph and scoring three times, although he was slightly overshadowed by his strike partner, Sir Geoff Hurst who scored a hat-trick in the final against West Germany.

9 Sir Tom Finney

Sir Tom Finney earned icon status at Preston North End for his 20 years spent at Deepdale between 1940 and 1960, during which he made 473 appearances and scored 210 goals. He was 17 years old when World War Two broke out which hindered his development, but he finally made his Football League debut in 1946 as well as his international bow four weeks later.

In a British Home Championship match against Ireland, Finney scored once as the Three Lions won 7-2 and later described the game as his 'proudest day as a footballer.' As one of the most famous footballers in post-war English football, he would go on to win 76 caps for his country and score 30 goals.

8 Nat Lofthouse

Nat Lofthouse is one of the most famous one-club men in English football, spending his entire career with his beloved Bolton Wanderers. He scored 285 goals in 503 appearances for the Trotters between the years of 1946 and 1960 and was rewarded with his first England call-up in 1950 for a friendly against Yugoslavia, in which he scored both of his side's goals in a 2-2 draw.

The centre forward would later earn the nickname 'the Lion of Vienna' for a goal scored in a win over Austria during which he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind and brought down by the goalkeeper. Lofthouse won 33 caps for the Three Lions and his 30 goals in those matches means he boasts one of the highest goals-per-game ratios of any England player.

7 Glenn Hoddle

Glenn Hoddle is the only player on this list who would also go on to manage the national team, leading them to the 1998 World Cup in France before his dismissal a year later.

In his playing days, he was an extremely creative midfielder who spent twelve years at Tottenham Hotspur before going abroad to join Monaco in 1987. He received his first England call-up in November 1979 at the age of 22 and scored the second goal in a 2-0 Euro qualifying win over Bulgaria. Hoddle would go on to earn 53 caps and scored eight times before announcing his retirement from international football following Euro 1988.

6 Dixie Dean

Dixie Dean is a household name in English football history due to his goalscoring exploits at Everton between 1925 and 1937. His name was in the headlines last season as for a brief moment, people began to wonder if Erling Haaland really could break his astonishing record of 63 goals in a season.

With 425 goals in 488 appearances in a career spanning 16 years, it will hardly come as a surprise that the Birkenhead-born centre forward scored a brace on his England debut against Wales at the 1926-27 British Home Championship. As the Three Lions didn't participate in a World Cup until 1950, international matches were less commonplace in Dean's day, meaning he only won 16 England caps but did score 18 times.

5 Sir Stanley Matthews

Sir Stanley Matthews was a revolution in English football for numerous reasons. From his Stoke City debut in 1932, he made 857 senior appearances, scored 91 goals, won the FA Cup and became the first ever Ballon d'Or winner before finally hanging up his boots at the grand old age of 50 in 1965 - a whole 33 years later.

54 of those games were for England and the winger made an instant impression on his debut in 1934 when he scored the third goal in a 4-0 British Home Championship win over Wales, aged just 19. Matthews would score 11 goals for the Three Lions and also became theiroldest-everr player at 42 when he featured in a 4-1 win over Denmark in 1957.

4 Jimmy Greaves

Jimmy Greaves is the highest goalscorer in English league football with 357 goals in 516 matches. He was prolific in front of goal for Chelsea, AC Milan, West Ham United and most notably Tottenham Hotspur before stepping away from top-flight football in 1971 at the age of 31.

Aged 19, the striker made his England debut in a friendly versus Peru in 1959, scoring their only goal in a heavy 4-1 defeat. Greaves would score an impressive 44 goals in 57 caps for the Three Lions, although injury in the group stage robbed him of the chance to be the hero of the 1966 World Cup triumph.

3 Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer is the greatest goalscorer in the Premier League with 260 goals for both Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Having begun his career at Southampton, he would go on to win the title with Blackburn in 1995 before signing for his beloved Magpies a year later for a world-record fee of £15m, and becoming their all-time top goalscorer.

He made his international bow in February 1992, while still playing for the Saints, and scored in a friendly against France, which England won 2-0. Shearer would go on to be a key player at both Euro 1996 and World Cup 1998 and finished his Three Lions career with 63 caps and 30 goals.

2 Sir Bobby Charlton

For 45 years, Sir Bobby Charlton was England's record goalscorer with 49 goals before Wayne Rooney overtook him in 2015. The attacking midfielder was a stalwart of England's Golden Generation in the 1960s, playing a key role in their World Cup success and earning 106 caps between 1958 and 1970.

He made his first international appearance in April 1958, just two months after he survived the Munich air disaster, and scored an outstanding volley in a 4-0 victory over Scotland, which won England the 1957-58 British Home Championship. Charlton won three league titles and a European Cup in 17 years with Manchester United and ended his career as their all-time top goalscorer before Rooney beat him again in 2017.

1 Harry Kane

Harry Kane is already England's all-time top goalscorer at the age of 30. The striker, who joined Bayern Munich in the summer after 14 years with Tottenham, has scored 59 goals in 86 caps for his country.

He captained the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of Euro 2020, winning the Golden Boot in the former with six goals, as well as at the 2022 World Cup where his missed penalty in a 2-1 defeat against France saw England exit at the quarter-final stage. Kane will undoubtedly add more goals to his international tally and started as he meant to go on with a goal on his debut just 80 seconds after replacing Rooney in a 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Lithuania in 2015.