England's Home Uniform 1997 to 1999

Uniform shirt photo supplied by Josh Benn

Notes

England wore this Umbro strip, as singularly unattractive as the companion away uniform, in three of their four matches at the World Cup 1998 final tournament in France, although in the last of those three matches, the round of 16 clash with Argentina, they wore all white, substituting the white shorts from the away uniform for the navy blue shorts of the home uniform.  The jersey made its first appearance in the1-0 World Cup 1998 qualification loss to Italy at Wembley Stadium on 12 February 1997.  It was worn for the 22nd and last time in the 2-0 friendly match loss to France at Wembley on 10 February 1999.  

The colour of the three lions in the emblem was changed from the traditional navy blue to a light blue.  The navy blue lions, however, reappeared on the next home white shirt in 1999.

Like the 1995 home white and 1996 away blue shirts, this jersey sported the manufacturer's name in large, capitalised letters above the three-lions emblem in the middle of the shirt, although, as on the 1996 away blue shirt, the team name also appeared in smaller capitalised letters below the emblem.  Still, a stranger to football might conclude it was the Umbro team's jersey.

 

Matches in Which England Wore the 1997 Home White Uniform
No.	Date	Opposition	Venue	Type	F	A	Result	H.T.
730	12-Feb-1997	Italy	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	WCP	0	1	HL	[0-1]
731	29-Mar-1997	Mexico	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	2	0	HW	[1-0]
732	30-Apr-1997	Georgia	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	WCP	2	0	HW	[1-0]
733	24-May-1997	South Africa	Old Trafford, Manchester	F	2	1	HW	[1-1]
734	31-May-1997	Poland	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów	WCP	2	0	AW	[1-0]
735	04-Jun-1997	Italy	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France	T/C	2	0	NW	[2-0]
736	07-Jun-1997	France	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France	T/C	1	0	AW	[0-0]
738	10-Sep-1997	Moldova	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	WCP	4	0	HW	[1-0]
739	11-Oct-1997	Italy	Stadio Olimpico, Roma	WCP	0	0	AD	[0-0]
740	15-Nov-1997	Cameroon	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	2	0	HW	[2-0]
741	11-Feb-1998	Chile	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	0	2	HL	[0-1]
742	25-Mar-1998	Switzerland	Wankdorf Stadion, Bern	F	1	1	AD	[0-1]
743	22-Apr-1998	Portugal	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	3	0	HW	[1-0]
744	23-May-1998	Saudi Arabia	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	0	0	HD	[0-0]
745	27-May-1998	Morocco	Complexe Mohammed V, Casablanca	T/C	1	0	AW	[0-0]
746	29-May-1998	Belgium	Complexe Mohammed V, Casablanca, Morocco	T/C	0	0	ND	[0-0]
3-4 on penalty kicks at end of regulation time for extra point under special rules of King Hassan II International Cup Tournament
747	15-Jun-1998	Tunisia	Le Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France	WCF	2	0	NW	[1-0]
748	22-Jun-1998	Romania	Stade Municipal, Toulouse, France	WCF	1	2	NL	[0-0]
750	30-Jun-1998	Argentina	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne, France	WCF	2	2	ND	[2-2]
2-2 full-time, 2-2 after extra time, 3-4 on penalty kicks
England wore all white--the white home shirt and stockings with the 1997 white away shorts--against Argentina.
753	14-Oct-1998	Luxembourg	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City	ECP	3	0	AW	[2-0]
754	18-Nov-1998	Czech Republic	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	2	0	HW	[2-0]
755	10-Feb-1999	France	Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London	F	0	2	HL	[0-0]

(Left) Alan Shearer models the new home strip.
(Right) England line-up against Belgium.

image supplied from and available at Wiggysports

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