The six-year process leading to perfect England penalties

England beat Switzerland on penalties in the Euro 2024 quarterfinal thanks to a changed approach that involved rethinking every detail of a penalty shootout, right down to the steps that players take and where they should look.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

One insight was even to not practise too much, as this can have a detrimental effect on nerves.

The Football Association has been so protective of these decisive tie-winning approaches that they stopped players like Jordan Pickford and Ezri Konsa going into too much detail about the “process” after Saturday’s quarter-final win, but some of the elements have been revealed in a book by an influential former staff member. Chris Markham, who is now sporting director at Bolton Wanderers, previously worked as Game Insights Lead at the FA for four years and through the watershed 2018 World Cup.

He was personally thanked by Gareth Southgate after that crucial 2018 last-16 win over Colombia in Russia. The manager first consulted Markham in 2017, before staging a wider meeting to convince the players in March 2018. Although the Euro 2020 final shootout against Italy showed there was still work to do, the results were seen in the five perfect penalties against Switzerland.