- As always, England Football Online made research easy
England face Italy in a Euro 2024 qualifier at Wembley on Tuesday night – we’re holding out a little bit of hope that it might be white-navy-white v blue-white-blue, but in the main resigned to it being all-white v all-blue like the Euro 2020 final.
Of course, deviations from the traditional look are not a new thing when it comes to this fixture – 50 years ago in Torino, England played their third and last game in a yellow and blue change kit that retired without a win to its name.
The three matches were compressed into a three-week period.
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After a 1-1 friendly draw away to Czechoslovakia on May 27, England then went down 2-0 against Poland on June 6, a result which severely hampered their ultimately unsuccessful bid to qualify for the World Cup finals.
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Then, on June 14, they played Italy to mark the 75th anniversary of the governing body there, the FIGC.
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Another 2-0 loss was the final outing for a shirt only worn by 12 different England outfield players.
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Goalkeeper Peter Shilton wore the same green jersey – featuring the Umbro logo of the time – for all three matches.
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Incidentally, both captains that day in Torino – Italy’s Giacinto Facchetti and Bobby Moore of England – would later have their numbers retired by their respective clubs, Internazionale (3) and West Ham United (6).
When Admiral replaced Umbro as England’s kit manufacturer in 1976, they did produce an all-yellow kit but, while the socks would make for an unusual combination with white shirts and shorts against Brazil, the shirts and shorts only appeared in an unofficial game against ‘Team USA’.
