Editing Tony Adams (section)

==International career==
[[File:EK voetbal in West Duitsland Engeland tegen Nederland 1-3, Bestanddeelnr 934-2662.jpg|thumb|right|Adams (left) playing for [[England national football team|England]] at [[UEFA Euro 1988]], as the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]]' [[Marco van Basten]] scores the first of his three goals]]
Adams made his debut for [[England national football team|England]] against [[Spain men's national football team|Spain]] in 1987,<ref name="highs" /> and played in [[UEFA Euro 1988]]. England lost all three games, but Adams scored one of England's two goals in the tournament in a 3–1 defeat to the [[Soviet Union national football team|Soviet Union]]. He was the first player to represent England who had been born after the 1966 World Cup win.

After a highly promising start to his international career, Adams suffered a series of setbacks during the early 1990s. He was surprisingly left out of the [[1990 FIFA World Cup]] squad by manager [[Bobby Robson]],<ref name="highs" /> missed [[UEFA Euro 1992]] due to injury, whilst England failed to qualify for the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]]. England reached the semi-finals of [[UEFA Euro 1996]], before losing on [[penalty shootout (football)|penalties]] to [[Germany national football team|Germany]].

Adams appeared at the [[1998 FIFA World Cup]]. Later that year, he made headlines for several statements in his autobiography ''Addicted'', criticising manager [[Glenn Hoddle]] for his management of [[David Beckham]] and [[Paul Gascoigne]], and for making [[Alan Shearer]] captain instead of Adams; he also called Gascoigne an alcoholic, which was denied by the player's representatives. Hoddle told the press that he had no problems with Adams's opinions from the book.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hoddle and Adams 'closer than ever' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/163111.stm |access-date=12 October 2022 |publisher=BBC News |date=9 September 1998}}</ref>

His international swansong was England's unsuccessful [[UEFA Euro 2000]] campaign. With Shearer retiring from international football after the tournament, Adams regained the captaincy. However, within months, England lost a World Cup qualifier to Germany in October 2000, the match being the last to be staged at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]], before the stadium was torn down for rebuilding. That match was Adams's 60th Wembley appearance, a record. With [[Sven-Göran Eriksson]] eventually taking the helm and under increasing pressure for his place from the emerging and improving [[Rio Ferdinand]], Adams retired from international football, having made 66 appearances,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/adams-intl.html| title = Tony Alexander Adams – International Appearances| access-date = 24 October 2008}}</ref> before Eriksson picked his first squad. He was the last England player to score at the old Wembley Stadium when he scored England's second goal in a 2–0 friendly win over [[Ukraine national football team|Ukraine]] on 31 May 2000. This was also his first goal since he scored in a friendly against [[Saudi Arabia national football team|Saudi Arabia]] in November 1988, thus making the record for the longest gap between goals for England.

Adams was the first, and remains to date the only, England player to make tournament appearances in three separate decades.