Since 2017, there have been nine major tournaments involving the men’s and women’s England teams. In each of those nine tournaments, England have made it to the quarter-final stages at least. That level of consistent success is unprecedented, in both the men’s and women’s games.

The men have made back-to-back Euros finals, and now – so have England’s women. Of course, the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022, which was a landmark moment.

In terms of World Cups, in the last six tournaments, the men have failed only once to get out of the group, and in the last three Women’s World Cups, England have finished third, fourth and runners-up.

Add to that, the fact that the men’s U21s team have now won back-to-back European Championships for the first time ever, under Lee Carsley, and it’s clear the England teams across the board – men, women and juniors – are enjoying a period of success which we simply haven’t seen before.

In fact, the “30 years of hurt”, which then became 40 and then 50, proves that England teams have under-performed and disappointed (despite some very high expectations) on so many occasions, for so long.

For the men, in 28 years of Euros from 1980-2008, they achieved only one quarter-final and one semi-final appearance, alongside six times where they either did not qualify for the finals or had group stage exits.

In the 20 years from 1994-2014, there were six World Cups: two of those saw England’s men manage last 16 appearances, two saw quarter-final exits, and the other two saw the team endure a group stage exit, or fail to qualify for the finals in the first place.

The Lionesses’ meteoric rise to consistent excellence has been even more marked. From 1991, the women failed to qualify for two of the next three World Cups. And in five European Championships from 1989, England’s women failed to qualify for the tournament on four of those five occasions (albeit with a trip to the semi-finals in the one year they did qualify – 1995).

The next obvious question is why? How have the FA managed to turn around decades of under-performance on the international stage to where we are now? Truth is, they deserve huge credit.

I would point to the vision of Howard Wilkinson as the starting point. The former Leeds and Sunderland manager became FA technical director in 1997, and set about reforming English football’s academy system, and crucially, he began the project to create an English “La Masia”, a footballing centre of excellence to rival anything else in the world.

It wasn’t until 2012 that the huge site for the National Football Centre was opened at St George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent, but it revolutionised the way England teams were prepared and supported.

That, followed by Dan Ashworth’s plan for an “England DNA” project in 2014, paved the way for the success England’s teams are enjoying today. Ashworth took Wilkinson’s plans to a new level, creating a single footballing philosophy which pervades across all age groups, genders and all the England teams.

It was a philosophy to make England serial winners, with consistent coaching techniques, processes, and sports science at every level. And it’s worked.

After frustrating periods at Newcastle and Manchester United, Ashworth is now back at the FA overseeing “St George’s Park 2:0” – his mission is to improve the National Football Centre still further, to take advantage of the very latest coaching developments and technology.

All of that sounds pretty dry and “worthy”. But it is the gritty reality behind why England’s teams are seeing so much success right now. That success has been planned, and it has been hard-won. The one missing ingredient? A first men’s major trophy in almost 60 years. Over to you, Mr Thomas Tuchel.

Before then, Sarina Wiegman will walk out in Basel on Sunday, leading the Lionesses to their third major final in three years. And looking to make it a brace of major trophies in that time.