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Goalkeepers' Uniforms:

1997 Dark Blue
1997 Light Blue

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England's Uniforms

England's Away Uniform
June to June

1996 Away Uniform
1997 Home Uniform
1998 World Cup Away Uniform
1999 Away Uniform
 
 

P 6 W 2 D 2 L 2 F 6:A 4
50% successful

Description    

Two-tone red striped short-sleeved shirt. Large two-tone image of blowing English flag in centre of chest, with St George Cross in darker shade. Smaller rectangular panels, shorter at the top and bottom, in lighter shade, either side of the flag, with horizontal stripe in darker shade across the middle, echoing the edges of the flag. Wider central stripe in lighter shade containing five smaller versions of the flag, below the large flag in a vertical line. Navy-blue winged collar, with an outer white stripe and an inner red stripe near the edge. Curved navy-blue insert beneath the neck, overlaid with white curved inserts, each edged with a navy-blue stripe and with the left insert overlapping the right. Embroidered emblem, with light-blue lions, in centre of chest, with white registered trademark underneath left-hand side of emblem, 'ENGLAND' in capitalised white lettering below it and 'UMBRO' in large capitalised white lettering above it. White number, with navy-blue border, on reverse and in the centre of the chest, beneath the emblem, in a new font, different to that on the white shirt.

White shorts, with red drawstring, edged with navy blue. Thick red rectangular panel, edged with navy blue, comprising lower third of seams. 'UMBRO' in large capitalised navy-blue lettering on left thigh. Embroidered emblem on right thigh, with navy-blue registered trademark underneath left-hand side of emblem and 'ENGLAND' in capitalised navy-blue lettering below it. Red number, with navy-blue border in the same font as on the shirt, above the emblem on right thigh.

Red socks of lighter tone, with two navy-blue hoops across tops and 'UMBRO' in large capitalised white lettering around calf.

Variations
  • A long-sleeved version of the shirt was also worn. The cuffs were navy blue, with a white stripe near the edge.

  • For the first two games in which this shirt was worn, the player's surname was worn above the number on the reverse in capitalised white lettering, with a navy-blue border, in a new font, different to that on the white shirt. Characters shaded pink were unused in both games, whilst D and the small letter c were not used against Brazil because Tony Adams and Steve McManaman were not in that squad. The small c was repositioned on this font, as it had been at the bottom of the line on McManaman's 1996 shirts.

  • For the game against Brazil, the shirts worn by the Neville brothers also included their first initial i.e. G. NEVILLE and P. NEVILLE. Only Gary was in the 1998 World Cup finals squad, so his initial was not used against Colombia.

  • For the game against Colombia, 'FIFA WORLD CUP FRANCE 1998' was displayed in white directly above the number on the chest.

  • The shirts worn by Les Ferdinand and Rio Ferdinand at the 1998 World Cup finals also included their first initial i.e. L. FERDINAND and R. FERDINAND, though both players stayed on the bench for the entire tournament.

Most Appearances

6 - Sol Campbell, Graeme Le Saux (1 sub), Paul Scholes, Alan Shearer

  • Shearer was the only man to play the entire ninety minutes of all six games in which this shirt was worn.

  • Two players were sent off wearing this shirt, both against Sweden (Paul Ince and Paul Scholes).

  • Two players made their international debuts in this shirt. Ray Parlour went on to represent his country on ten occasions. Tim Sherwood appeared twice more, with his third and last appearance also being made in this shirt.

  • Besides Sherwood, Andy Hinchcliffe was the only other player to make his last appearance in this shirt. It was his seventh.

Top Scorers

3 - Paul Scholes

1 - Darren Anderton, David Beckham, Alan Shearer

  • The six games only yielded six goals for the national team, with England remaining scoreless in three of them.

  • All of Scholes' goals came in a hat-trick against Poland to give Kevin Keegan a winning start to his brief career as England's coach.

  • Beckham's goal, from a trademark free kick, was his first of 17 in international football.

Captains

6 - Alan Shearer

  • Shearer played the full captain's role, completing the entire nine hours on the field in the shirt.

  • Two coaches (Hoddle and Keegan) sent England out in this kit and both selected Shearer as skipper.

 

This Umbro shirt--dominated by multiple images of the St George flag--appeared for the first time at the Tournoi de France in the 1-0 loss to Brazil and ended its time in three home European Championship fixtures at Wembley Stadium.

The criticism that Umbro had received from the traditionalists for the previous year's indigo kit and the traumatic penalties defeat to Germany whilst wearing it, seems to have prompted a change to the policy of releasing a new white kit in the odd-numbered years and a new change kit in the even-numbered years, a cycle which Umbro had begun in 1993.

This return to the more-popular red shirts had presumably been earmarked for an early-1998 release, in time for the World Cup but unexpectedly appeared at Le Tournoi, twelve months before the World Cup, and it would be another five years before a change kit was released in an even-numbered year again.

This was a time of mediocrity for the England team, although they actually lifted a trophy in the kit following their defeat to Brazil, having already won the tournament. Lifting the World Cup on their next visit to France, twelve months later, would have been much more significant, but it was not to be, despite a convincing display against the Colombians.

Then it all turned sour for Glenn Hoddle. The European Championship campaign got off to an inauspicious start and he was soon replaced by Kevin Keegan, who steered the crew towards the Low Countries, in brand spanking new kits...

Matches in which England wore the 1997 Away Red Uniform
Season 1996-97

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Glenn Hoddle

Tournoi de France
737 10 June 1997 - England 0 Brazil 1 [0-0]
Parc des Princes, Boulogne, Paris
(38,000)
Romario NL
Season 1997-98
World Cup Finals in France
749  26 June 1998 - England 2 Colombia 0 [2-0]
Stade Félix-Bollaert, Avenue Alfred Maes, Lens (41,275)
Anderton, Beckham NW
England wore the red away shirts and white shorts with the 1997 white home socks, against Colombia.
Season 1998-99
European Championship preliminaries
751 5 September 1998 - Sweden 2 England 1 [2-1]
Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna kommun, Stockholms län (35,394)
A.Andersson, Mjällby
Shearer
AL
752 10 October 1998 - England 0 Bulgaria 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London (38,535)
  HD

x

Kevin Keegan

756 27 March 1999 - England 3 Poland 1 [2-1]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London (73,836)
Scholes (3)
Brzęczek
 
HW
758 5 June 1999 - England 0 Sweden 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London (75,824)
  HD

Other match in which England wore the 1997 Away White Shorts
Season 1997-98

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Glenn Hoddle

World Cup Finals in France
750 30 June 1998 - Argentina 2 England 2 [2-2]ᴭᵀ 4-3 on penalty-kicks
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Rue Paul et Pierre Guichard, Saint-Étienne
 (35,500)
Batistuta (pen), Zanetti
Shearer (pen), Owen
ND
England wore all white, the 1997 white home shirt and socks with the white away shorts, against Argentina.
Worn by 27 Players
Tony Adams Darren Anderton1 David Batty3  David Beckham3
Sol Campbell Andy Cole2  Les Ferdinand Paul Gascoigne1
Michael Gray Andy Hinchcliffe Paul Ince3 Martin Keown
Rob Lee Graeme Le Saux2 Steve McManaman Paul Merson
Gary Neville Phil Neville3 Michael Owen Ray Parlour
Jamie Redknapp3 Paul Scholes3 Alan Shearer Teddy Sheringham3
Tim Sherwood2 Gareth Southgate Ian Wright  

It was also worn on the bench by unused substitutes, Chris Armstrong, Nicky Butt, Lee Clark, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Stuart Pearce and John Scales.

1/2/3 indicates the players that wore the long-sleeved version and the number of matches in which they wore it (Batty, Beckham, Cole, Ince, Phil Neville, Redknapp, Sheringham and Sherwood only wore the long-sleeved version of this shirt). Gascoigne began the game against Brazil in short sleeves and switched to long sleeves for the second half.

The Under-16 and Under-18 teams wore the same design, except that each wore an embroidered scroll below the emblem, within which YOUTH was displayed, in white. England's Under-21 and B teams also wore the same design, without the scrolls, but included numbers on the front of the shirt and on the shorts. The women's team wore the same design, but without the smaller numbers.

When the Under-20s played Argentina in the 1997 World Youth Championship in Malaysia, each player's surname was worn in white on the back of the shirt above the number, in the same font as was worn in Le Tournoi and in the 1998 World Cup finals. Smaller numbers were also worn on the chest and on the right thigh of the shorts. The YOUTH scroll was not worn and there was no tournament embroidery or sleeve logos.

Matches in which England B wore the 1997 Away Red Uniform
Season 1997-98

x

Peter Taylor

Friendly matches
57 10 February 1998 - England 1 Chile 2 [0-0]
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich (13,917)
Heskey
Neira (2)
HL
England: K.Pressman, Keiron Dyer (Steve Guppy), Jason Wilcox (Jamie Carragher), R.Scimeca, D.Matteo, M.Hall, D.Huckerby, N.Quashie (Frank Lampard), Emile Heskey, Paul Merson, Ray Parlour (P.Murray).
58 21 April 1998 - England 4 Russia 1 [2-0]
Loftus Road, Shepherd's Bush (5,105)
Ferdinand, Le Tissier (3)
Bouznikin
HW
England: Ian Walker, S.Watson (J.Curtis), C.Serrant, D.Williams, W.Quinn, Jamie Carragher, Matt Le Tissier, Trevor Sinclair (Keiron Dyer), Les Ferdinand (Kevin Phillips), Nick Barmby (D.Johnson), Darren Anderton (Lee Hendrie).

England's Record wearing the 1997 Away Shirt
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts % W/L
Home 3 1 2 0 3 1 +2 2 2 1.00 0.333 66.7 +1
Away 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 0 0 1.00 2.00 0.00 -1
Neutral 2 1 0 1 2 1 +1 1 1 1.00 0.50 50.0 =0
Total 6 2 2 2 6 4 +2 3 3 1.00 0.667 50.0 =0

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JB/PY/CG/GI