England will renew a now 56-year-old quest for World Cup glory when they begin their 2022 tournament against Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar on November 21.
Gareth Southgate has taken the Three Lions as close as anyone else to repeating the heroics of Sir Alf Ramsey's class of 1966, reaching the semi-finals in Russia four years ago.
Add to that a run to the final of Euro 2020 last year and recent form at major tournaments should make England one of the front-runners to go far in Qatar.
However, some poor form in the buildup to the tournament - including a miserable relegation from their UEFA Nations League group - has dampened expectations of the current group of players writing their names into the history books alongside some of the other greatest the country has ever produced.
Here, Sports Mole looks back at some of those past legends to create an all-time best England XI, based only on players' performances at World Cups.
Goalkeeper: Gordon Banks
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An automatic choice for many given his iconic roles in 1966 and 1970, although Peter Shilton deserves more than just a passing honourable mention having played more World Cup games for England than any other player, and having kept a joint-record 10 clean sheets at the World Cup - a tally only France's Fabien Barthez can match.
Nonetheless, Banks takes the gloves having kept four clean sheets in a row at the start of the 1966 tournament, only conceding for the first time in the semi-finals against Portugal.
It speaks volumes that lifting the Jules Rimet trophy is not even Banks's most iconic World Cup moment, though. That came four years later, when he pulled off a save many consider to be the greatest of all time to deny Pele.
Jairzinho's goal in that game was the only one Banks conceded throughout the 1970 World Cup, and his importance was underlined in the quarter-final when, with the 'Banks of England' missing through food poisoning, backup goalkeeper Peter Bonetti made a costly error en route to a 3-2 defeat to West Germany in the quarter-final.
Right-back: George Cohen
For a nation with only one World Cup triumph to their name, it is no surprise to see the 1966 squad make up the vast majority of this XI, and Cohen was a relatively clear choice at right-back due to a lack of other contenders.
Gary Neville and Phil Neal may be above Cohen in the question of England's greatest-ever right-back overall, but neither achieved anything of note at a World Cup whereas Cohen lifted the trophy.
The former Fulham stalwart had even more work to do due to Ramsey's 'wingless wonders' system, and he carried it out with aplomb both in attack and in defence to help the Three Lions to glory.
With more top-class right-backs at his disposal than he can fit in his team now, Southgate will be hoping that one of them can put on a level of performance in Qatar to threaten Cohen's place in this XI.
Centre-backs: Bobby Moore, Terry Butcher
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There was one clear-cut choice, and one more difficult one at centre-back in this team, with 1966 winner Jack Charlton, Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand among those to have to make do with honourable mentions.
Bobby Moore was the first name on the teamsheet, having been the iconic captain of the class of 1966, and the above image of him being hoisted on his teammates' shoulders holding the Jules Rimet aloft remains the most famous scene in English football history.
Not only was Moore at his imperious best defensively on the run to glory in 1966, he also provided two assists in the final to demonstrate his ahead-of-his-time passing ability.
More iconic moments were to come in 1970 - namely his perfect tackle on Jairzinho to halt the Brazil winger in full flight, and him swapping shirts with Pele at the end of that match as two legends of the game recognised each other's greatness.
Shilton is the only player to have made more World Cup appearances for England than Moore, who also featured at the 1962 edition, and Terry Butcher is also in that clutch of four players with 14 World Cup games to their name.
Butcher cannot quite match the success of Jack Charlton, but he did appear at three separate World Cups and was a key part of the squad that made it to the semi-finals in 1990, taking on the captaincy from the injured Bryan Robson during the tournament.
Left-back: Ashley Cole
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Another of the England players to have made 14 World Cup appearances, Ashley Cole featured in 2002, 2006 and 2010 as part of the 'Golden Generation' which is widely regarded to have underperformed on the grandest stage.
Cole was arguably the player to get closest to his standard of performance at club level while wearing an England shirt during that period, though, and his displays at the 2010 World Cup helped to earn him the England Player of the Year award that year.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea man was an ever-present at the 2006 tournament, and many felt that he should have also gone to the 2014 edition in Brazil, only to be left out of the squad entirely.
Central midfield: David Beckham, Bobby Charlton, Paul Gascoigne
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It goes without saying that David Beckham is more familiar as a right-sided midfielder, but the lack of a standout option on the left means that he will have to tuck a little bit more central in this XI - a move we can pretend is a nod to Ramsey's wingless wonders.
Beckham is of course no stranger to playing central midfield, and he is also no stranger to World Cup controversy - indeed he arguably has the most colourful World Cup history of any Three Lions player.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid man became a national pariah following his red card for a petulant kick out at Diego Simeone at the 1998 World Cup, a move which earned him a red card along with villainous status across England.
Beckham had restored his standing in the eyes of England fans by the time of the 2002 World Cup - thanks in no small part to a last-gasp free kick against Greece which booked their place at the tournament - and completed his redemption with a goal against Argentina. Four years later, he became the first and so far only England player to score in three separate World Cups.
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If Moore was the first name on the teamsheet, Bobby Charlton was not far behind courtesy of his heroics in helping the nation to glory in 1966.
Only Shilton has made more World Cup appearances for England, while only three players have scored more World Cup goals for the Three Lions, with three of his four coming en route to the trophy 56 years ago.
Charlton's brace against Portugal in the semi-final that year remains one of the measuring sticks for individual performances on the international stage and, while he and Franz Beckenbauer effectively marked each other off the game in the final itself, Charlton had still done enough to win the Ballon d'Or that year.
The Manchester United talisman was also involved four years later in 1970, when Ramsey's decision to take him off in the quarter-final against West Germany coincided with the Germans launching a comeback and knocking England out of the tournament.
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Charlton's fellow World Cup winners Alan Ball and Martin Peters were also close to earning a place in this team, but when one thinks of England and World Cups, it does not take long for the mind to turn to Paul Gascoigne.
Gazza captured the hearts of the nation at Italia 90, despite having never started a competitive international before that tournament, as England made it to the semi-finals - helped by a couple of Gascoigne assists along the way.
Despite all of his electric play during that tournament, it is the tears which most people remember as he picked up a yellow card in the semi-final which meant that he would have missed the final, although that proved to be a moot point as England eventually lost on penalties to Germany.
Centre-forwards: Harry Kane, Gary Lineker, Geoff Hurst
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Harry Kane has only featured in one World Cup before, but he has already done enough to edge out Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Roger Hunt for a centre-forward spot in this XI - the only member of the current crop to earn that accolade.
Kane is one of only two English players to have ever won the Golden Boot, with his six-goal tally in Russia four years ago also making him the second-highest scoring Englishman in World Cup history.
Five of those goals came in their opening two group games against Tunisia and Panama, so an argument lingers that he still needs to do it at the business end of major tournaments, but he did get the crucial goal in the round of 16 against Colombia as England progressed on penalties.
The only player above Kane in terms of World Cup goals for England is Gary Lineker, who also sits alongside the current skipper as the only other English Golden Boot winner.
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Both strikers achieved the feat with six-goal tallies, Lineker's coming at the 1986 edition with a hat-trick in their final group game, a brace in the round of 16 and one in the quarter-final defeat to a Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina.
Lineker then backed that up with four more goals at Italia 90, including a brace in their memorable quarter-final triumph over Cameroon and England's only goal of the game against West Germany in the ill-fated semi-final.
As such, Lineker is one of only 13 players to have reached double figures for goals at the World Cup.
The hat-trick hero from 1966 Sir Geoff Hurst unsurprisingly makes up the front three, and he is also third behind Lineker and Kane in England's all-time leading World Cup goalscorers list.
The former West Ham United man has found the back of the net five times for the Three Lions on the biggest stage, with four of those coming in 1966 and another one four years later in 1970.
Hurst's winning goal against Argentina in the 1966 quarter-final tends to be overlooked in the annals of history, although perhaps understandably considering what he went on to do in the final after Ramsey kept faith with him ahead of the fit-again Jimmy Greaves.
The hat-trick against West Germany remains the only treble in a men's World Cup final, and he will forever be immortalised in English football history because of his achievement that day.
Manager: Alf Ramsey
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Who else? The man who steered England to World Cup glory in 1966 is the clear choice to take charge of this legendary XI, and is perhaps the best man to cope with the lack of natural width in the team too.
Ramsey revolutionised the England team when he took over from Walter Winterbottom, becoming the first England boss to demand that he alone chose the squad rather than a team of selectors, and he went on to cement his name as the country's most successful manager of all time.
Bobby Robson and Southgate deserve mentions for reaching semi-finals, but Ramsey still stands out on his own as the standard-bearer for England managers at the World Cup.
ENGLAND'S GREATEST EVER WORLD CUP XI
England's greatest ever World Cup XI: Banks; Cohen, Moore, Butcher, A Cole; Beckham, B Charlton, Gascoigne; Kane, Lineker, Hurst
Barney Corkhill
