The borough of Greenwich is well known for many things, from its rich maritime history to being a popular London tourist destination.

But one thing you might not know about the south east London borough is its record of producing professional football players.

New research carried out by Acme Whistles has looked into the towns, cities and regions which have produced the most football players to have represented England at a tournament, relevant as England prepare to head into Euro 2020 next week.

And Greenwich surprisingly ranked as the top birthplace in the UK - The borough is one of three towns or local areas to have produced the most international footballers in the country.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich

The Royal Borough of Greenwich

Whilst Liverpool and Manchester lead the stats when it comes to cities, Greenwich tops the towns list, and notably thanks to a recent surge in talent.

Peter Brabrook was the only player to come from Greenwich before 2010, but with a burst of producing Shaun Wright-Phillips, Glen Johnson, and Chris Smalling in the same era, they quickly shot to the top of the list.

Chris Smalling - PA

Chris Smalling - PA

Ashington also has four. The town is famous for being the birthplace of Bobby & Jack Charlton, as well as Jackie Milburn & Jimmy Adamson. The last squad including players born in Ashington however was all the way back in 1970.

Bury is the other top town, and is famous for producing the Neville brothers with 8 tournament call ups between them.

Glen Johnson - PA

Glen Johnson - PA

Bury also had Colin McDonald in the ‘58 World Cup squad and Kieran Trippier in the 2018 squad whose right foot had us all believing for an all too brief period in the Luzhniki Stadium.

Despite Greenwich's mighty contribution, the north west ranks as the number one region.

Crowned as the Kings of English Football by the researchers, the region has produced an incredible 73 international footballers, led by top clubs Manchester United and Liverpool.

London as a whole has produced 56 players, including Booby Moore, David Beckham and Harry Kane.

The Northern Counties of Merseyside (28 players) and Greater Manchester (26 players) followed the big smoke.

Merseyside greats include Steven Gerrard, Terry McDermott, and Steve McMahon. Whilst Greater Manchester is home to Phil and Gary Neville, Marcus Rashford, and Geoff Hurst.

The City of Liverpool is home to the most internationals when ranking districts,