It's hard to have a good team without a good defence – and it's hard to have a good team without good defenders.
English football, at club and international level, is certainly no exception in that regard, and the birthplace of the beautiful game has produced some all-time great exponents of the defensive art.
Here, FourFourTwo ranks the best English defenders ever!
We kick off our list with the man who would go on to be England manager. Gareth Southgate earned 57 Three Lions Caps during a nine-year international career and was ever-present in his country’s run to the Euro 96 semi-finals (we won’t mention the P-word).
An accomplished centre-back who was also comfortable in a defensive midfield role, Southgate won the League Cup with Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, also reaching the 2006 UEFA Cup final with the latter.
Confusingly one of two defenders named Gary Stevens in England’s 1986 World Cup squad, this Gary Stevens earned 46 caps for the Three Lions in all, also featuring at Euro 1988 and the 1990 World Cup.
A two-time First Division champion with Everton – where he also won the FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup – Stevens was included in three out of four PFA Teams of the Year between 1985 and 1988.
A regular for boyhood club Liverpool by the age of 19, Trent Alexander-Arnold soon lived up to his prodigious potential, establishing himself as one of the world’s best full-backs by his mid-20s.
Versatile enough to also operate in midfield, the insatiably attack-minded set-piece specialist – who played for England at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups – scooped the 2019/20 PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Jamie Carragher grew up an Everton fan – but he went on to play exclusively for their Mersyside rivals, racking up 737 appearances during a 16-year career at Liverpool.
Capped 38 times by his country – appearing at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups – Carragher won the Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup with the Reds, before becoming one of the game’s leading pundits in retirement.
A mainstay of the England national team under Gareth Southgate, Kieran Trippier notched his first international goal with a free-kick to put the Three Lions ahead against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semi-final (which they ultimately lost, but let’s not get into that).
He’s also scored his fair share of them at club level, where he’s won the LaLiga title with Atletico Madrid and reached the Champions League final with Tottenham.
One of English football’s standout right-backs of the late 80s and the 90s, Lee Dixon won the title four times with Arsenal – twice in the old First Division and twice in the Premier League.
A double winner with the Gunners in 1997/98 and 2001/02 – his final season as a player – the 22-cap England international joined the North London giants from second-tier Stoke City in 1987 and went on to gain legendary status.
Paul Parker the pundit went viral for his fully shrug-of-the-shoulders reaction to an Arsenal goal in 2018 – but Paul Parker the player was no joke.
Capped 19 times his nation – famously setting up Gary Lineker’s equaliser against West Germany in the semi-final of Italia ’90 – the versatile right-back helped Manchester United to their first two Premier League titles, as well as lifting the FA Cup and League Cup with the Red Devils.
Among the most technically gifted English centre-backs of all time, John Stones really came to the fore playing under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
One of the first names on the England teamsheet, the former Barnsley and Everton man starred in City’s 2022/23 treble triumph, proving himself equally adept as a defensive midfielder.
One of the most decorated English footballers of all time, Gary Neville won eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues with Manchester United, spending his entire career with the club and captaining them for five years.
The tenacious right-back won 85 caps for England between 1995 and 2007, featuring at two World Cups and three Euros.
In the words of his former manager at Tottenham, Harry Redknapp, Ledley King was “an absolute freak” – such was his astonishing ability to produce elite-level performances in the Premier League despite not training due to a chronic knee issue (he had no cartilage in his left knee, for goodness sake!).
Club captain for many years, King – who represented England at Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup – led Spurs to victory over Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final.
Captain of Ipswich Town’s immortal 1980/81 UEFA Cup-winning team, Mick Mills also wore the armband for England at the 1982 World Cup in the absence of the injured Kevin Keegan.
The diminutive, moustachioed full-back established himself as one of the country’s finest in the position during the late 70s and early 80s, collecting an MBE in 1984 for services to football.
A Manchester United legend for his trophy-laden nine-year spell at Old Trafford – where he formed an excellent centre-half partnership with Steve Bruce and won four Premier League titles under Alex Ferguson – Gary Pallister received the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award in the final season of the old First Division.
Inclusion in the first three PFA Premier League Teams of the Year followed for the 22-time England international, who began and ended his career with Middlesbrough.
Named in two PFA Teams of the Year in each of the First and Second Divisions, Dave Watson lifted the 1972/73 FA Cup with Sunderland – who were in the second tier at the time – and the 1975/76 League Cup with Manchester City.
Capped 65 times by England – wearing the captain’s armband on three occasions – the centre-back – who also had stints in the Bundesliga and NASL – won five British Home Championships with the Three Lions.
Among the most decorated players in the history of the European Cup, Liverpool great Phil Neal got his hands on the trophy four times between 1977 and 1984.
Also an eight-time top-flight champion with the Reds, Neal won 50 England caps and featured at the 1982 World Cup. He later served as assistant to Three Lions boss Graham Taylor.
One of England’s most-capped full-backs of all time, Kenny Sansom wore Three Lions on his shirt on 86 occasions, and was first-choice left-back at all four major tournaments for which his country qualified from 1980 to 1990.
An Arsenal icon, Sansom won the Gunners’ Player of the Season award in his first campaign after joining from Crystal Palace in 1980 – and he made eight straight PFA First Division Teams of the Year between 1980 and 1987.
The photo of a blood-soaked Terry Butcher (yep, that one up there) at the end of England’s World Cup qualifier in Sweden in 1989 is one of the most iconic images in football history – and one which perfectly sums him up as a player.
Never less than 100% committed to the cause, the towering centre-back – an icon at Ipswich, where he won the UEFA Cup – was an integral member of the Three Lions’ team at the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups.
Up there with the finest full-backs of his generation, Kyle Walker made a major impact for Tottenham, Manchester City and England with his world-class quality on the right-hand side.
Blisteringly quick, the 2011/12 PFA Young Player of the Year was still the Premier League’s leading speedster well into his 30s, clocking a top speed of more than 37 km/h in 2022/23 – the campaign which saw him win the treble with City.
An absolute icon in the history of Nottingham Forest, Viv Anderson starred at right-back in Brian Clough’s legendary European Cup-retaining team – having already won the 1977/78 First Division title.
At a time when racism was rife in the stands, Anderson – who also won major trophies with Arsenal and Manchester United – became the first ever black player to represent England at international level – and he went on to earn 30 caps overall, featuring in the Three Lions’ 1982 and 1986 World Cup squads.
Stuart Pearce made nearly 200 appearances for non-League Wealdstone before getting his break in professional football with Coventry City in 1983 – and he went on to establish himself as one of the most formidable left-backs around (he wasn’t nicknamed ‘Psycho’ for nothing).
A prominent member of the England sides which reached the semis of Italia ’90 and Euro 96, Pearce – an expert free-kick and penalty taker – notably spent 11 years with Nottingham Forest, where he made every PFA First Division Team of the Year from 1988 to 1992.
Briefly a teammate of Viv Anderson’s at Nottingham Forest, Des Walker enjoys similarly legendary status at the City Ground to this day.
A two-time League Cup winner with Forest – where he made PFA First Division Team of the Year four years running from 1989 to 1992 – the 59-cap England centre-half – who also turned out for Sampdoria and Sheffield Wednesday – was blessed with great pace, making him a quite formidable stopper.
Maurice Norman goes down as one of Tottenham’s best ever players, having performed an integral role at the back in Bill Nicholson’s legendary 1960/61 double-winning team – who retained the FA Cup and lifted the 1962/63 Cup Winners’ Cup.
At international level, Norman earned 23 England caps and starred at the 1962 World Cup. He was forced to retire aged 31 after suffering a horrific leg injury, but he did more than enough during his career to be remembered as an all-time defensive great of the English game.
A title-winning skipper in three different decades, Tony Adams was crowned a champion of England four times during his 19-year association with Arsenal – the only club he ever played for.
No-nonsense in his approach but converted into an excellent ball-playing centre-half by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, Adams earned 66 caps for England and captained the Three Lions on 15 occasions.
Included in the All-Star Team at the 2002 World Cup – where he scored his sole international goal – Sol Campbell is right up there with England’s greatest ever centre-backs.
A major trophy winner with Tottenham and Arsenal at club level, Campbell completed one of the most acrimonious transfers in history when he crossed the North London divide in 2001 – but he continued unfazed, cementing his place as an all-time Premier League great and clinching the title twice with the Gunners, including as an ‘Invincible’ in 2003/04.
A First and Second Division title winner with Leeds – where he also got his hands on the FA Cup and League Cup, as well as reaching the 1975 European Cup final – Norman Hunter was one of the very best defenders of his generation, picking up the 1973/74 PFA Players’ Player of the Year prize.
If not for Bobby Moore – who kept him out of the side en route to 1966 World Cup glory – the hardman with a fine left foot would surely have won many more England caps than the 28 he did.
Left-back in England’s 1966 World Cup-winning side under Alf Ramsey, Ray Wilson made a name for himself playing for another utterly legendary English manager at Huddersfield Town: Bill Shankly.
By the time he joined Everton in 1964, Wilson had established himself as one of the best around in his position, and he helped the Toffees to FA Cup victory a couple of months before returning to Wembley for his finest hour.
To know how good George Cohen was, you only need listen to one of the greatest players of all time, George Best – who described England’s World Cup-winning right-back as the best full-back he ever faced.
A one-club man with Fulham – for whom he turned out 459 times over 13 years – Cohen’s determination in an attacking sense helped set the tone for his successors in the position for decades to come.
A 1966 World Cup winner with brother Bobby, Jack Charlton was a giant of the English game (and later, as a manager, the Irish game).
Quite unlike Bobby, however, Jack spent his entire career with Manchester United’s arch-rivals Leeds – where he made 726 appearances and scored 95 goals (a fine effort indeed for a centre-back), winning the First Division title, the FA Cup and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups.
One of the greatest left-backs of all time, Ashley Cole got his hands on 13 pieces of major silverware across glittering spells with Arsenal and Chelsea.
Included in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year on four occasions, Cole was capped 107 times by England during a 13-year international career, featuring at three World Cups and two Euros.
A one-club man at Wolves – helping them to three First Division titles and the FA Cup between the late 40s and late 50s – Billy Wright was the first player ever to win 100 caps for any country.
Remarkably, the great centre-half featured in 70 consecutive internationals for the Three Lions, who he captained at the 1950, 1954 and 1958 World Cups.
Rio Ferdinand broke the mould as far as English centre-backs went in the early 20th century – and it brought him enormous success with Manchester United.
More ‘continental’ in his playing style, Ferdinand – who earned 81 England caps – was a supreme ball-player and goes down as one of the finest defenders ever to grace the Premier League – which he won six times, in addition to 2007/08 Champions League glory.
Another all-time great Premier League centre-back, John Terry spent almost his whole career with Chelsea, captaining them and the national team.
Skipper for the Blues’ first five title triumphs of the Premier League era – and their maiden Champions League victory in 2011/12 – Terry was named 2004/05 PFA Players’ Player of the Year and was England’s sole representative in FIFA’s 2006 World Cup All Star Team.
“He was my friend as well as the greatest defender I ever played against”: that’s what Pele had to say about Bobby Moore upon the West Ham and England giant’s passing in 1993. Praise of the highest order.
Pele was absolutely spot on, though. The Hammers’ greatest ever player and 1963/64 FA Cup-winning captain, and, of course, England’s 1966 World Cup-winning skipper, the impeccably composed Moore – who came third in the 1970 Ballon d’Or – really was one of the best ever in the art of defending, as he showed throughout 108 caps for the Three Lions.
