User:Ianaelliott/England 6s and 2s Curse

In association football, the England 6s and 2s curse refers to a statistical pattern in the sequence by which which the England national football team have been eliminated from either the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Football Championship via a penalty shoot-out, after their first elimination by this method at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Finals. The statistical pattern was first noted on Twitter shortly after England's elimination from the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament.

The English national football team have been eliminated on penalty kicks at the following tournaments:


 * 1990 FIFA World Cup (3-4 vs. West Germany - Semi-finals)
 * UEFA Euro 1996 (5-6 vs. Germany - Semi-finals)
 * 1998 FIFA World Cup (3-4 vs. Argentina - Round of 16)
 * UEFA Euro 2004 (5-6 vs. Portugal - Quarter-finals)
 * 2006 FIFA World Cup (1-3 vs. Portugal- Quarter-finals)
 * UEFA Euro 2012 (2-4 vs. Italy - Quarter-finals)

A basic sequential pattern can be calculated using the years in which a penalty shoot-out loss was responsible for the English team's elimination. Since the 1990 FIFA World Cup England have been eliminated from European tournaments via a penalty shoot-out at recurring intervals of 6 and 2 years.

According to this pattern the next elimination for England as a result of a penalty shoot-out would be due during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. After this the another elimination would be due at the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament (and so forth). The 2020 tournament also coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first of the England v Scotland representative matches (1870–1872), the first of which the first was believed to be the first ever official international association football match.