Announcing the @England squad on Twitter

Monday, 12 May 2014

As England’s journey to Brazil 2014 gets underway, fans have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the squad.

And followers of @England on Twitter were rewarded with an exclusive today as the team shared the news first on Twitter at 13.59 BST:

Within only 30 minutes, more than 16,000 fans had retweeted the message.

The team behind the account then went on to live-tweet Roy Hodgson’s press conference using the official hashtag #3Lions, which had been chosen by Twitter followers and announced earlier in the day: 

Ahead of the official announcement from @England today, some players were informed that they would not be boarding the plane to Brazil. Several turned to Twitter to share their news with their followers:

Ashley Cole (@TheRealAC3) shared his news on Sunday night:

That message, and three that followed, were retweeted or favourited more than 145,000 times.

Michael Carrick, who missed out on selection, also turned to Twitter to connect with his fans.

As the team continue their preparation for the #WorldCup 2014 in Brazil, fans can expect lots more exclusive content from the @England account and via hashtag #3Lions in the coming weeks, so follow along to be the first in the know.