England's Home Uniform 2001 to 2003

Uniform shirt photo supplied by Josh Benn

Notes

Yet another in the long line Umbro have crafted for the England team, this jersey made its debut in the first match of 2001 along with new national team coach Sven-Göran Eriksson as England trounced Spain, 3-0, in a friendly match at Villa Park on 28 February.  England wore this unique shirt, which featured a vertical red stripe and the three lions crest on the left side, in 17 matches, including the three matches against Sweden, Denmark and Brazil at the World Cup 2002 final tournament in Japan.  In four of these 17 matches, England wore all white, combining the white home shirt and stockings with the white home change shorts.  The strip was last worn  in the disappointing 2-2 draw with FYR Macedonia in the European Championship 2004 qualifier at The Friend's Provident St Mary's Stadium in Southampton on 16 October 2002.

This shirt featured a holographic authenticity label on the right hip, with the words 'AUTHENTIC LICENSED PRODUCT'.  The marketing proclaimed that you could now buy a shirt identical to that worn by Michael Owen and the label was your verification of that fact.  Alas, just eight months later, the shirt worn by Michael Owen and his colleagues changed to accommodate the inclusion of the match fixture and date, in blue, in the middle of the chest.  So once again, it was different to the ones you could buy!  The practice of adding the opponent's name and season was previously present on the England shirt from 1949-54, but from the day David Beckham's free-kick salvaged a point against Greece at Old Trafford, to take England to Japan for the 2002 World Cup, its modern equivalent would have to change for every single game.  This game was also significant for the fact that surnames appeared on the back of the shirts outside of a tournament for the first time i.e. for a one-off fixture, rather than a tournament of at least three games.  Clearly, this was because England had now taken the step of producing new shirts for every single game. - GI

 

Matches in Which England Wore the 2001 Home White Uniform
No.	Date	Opposition	Venue	Type	F	A	Result	H.T.
776	28-Feb-2001	Spain	Villa Park, Birmingham	F	3	0	HW	[1-0]
778	28-Mar-2001	Albania	Stadiumi Kombetar "Qemal Stafa Stadium", Tiranë	WCP	3	1	AW	[0-0]
779	25-May-2001	México	Pride Park Stadium, Derby	F	4	0	HW	[3-0]
780	06-Jun-2001	Greece	Olympiako Stadio 'Spyros Louis', Athína	WCP	2	0	AW	[0-0]
781	15-Aug-2001	Netherlands	White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London	F	0	2	HL	[0-2]
782	01-Sep-2001	Germany	Olympiastadion, München	WCP	5	1	AW	[2-1]
783	05-Sep-2001	Albania	St. James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne	WCP	2	0	HW	[1-0]
England wore all white--the white home shirt and stockings with the white home change shorts--against Albania.
784	06-Oct-2001	Greece	Old Trafford, Manchester	WCP	2	2	HD	[0-1]
England wore all white--the white home shirt and stockings with the white home change shorts--against Greece.
785	10-Nov-2001	Sweden	Old Trafford, Manchester	F	1	1	HD	[1-1]
786	13-Feb-2002	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam	F	1	1	AD	[0-1]
788	17-Apr-2002	Paraguay	Anfield Road, Liverpool	F	4	0	HW	[1-0]
England wore all white--the white home shirt and stockings with the white home change shorts--against Paraguay.
789	21-May-2002	South Korea	Jeju World Cup Stadium, Seogwipo-si	F	1	1	AD	[1-0]
England wore all white--the white home shirt and stockings with the white home change shorts--against South Korea.
791	02-Jun-2002	Sweden	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama-ken, Japan	WCF	1	1	ND	[1-0]
794	15-Jun-2002	Denmark	Niigata Prefectural Stadium ("Big Swan"), Niigata-city, Japan	WCF	3	0	NW	[3-0]
795	21-Jun-2002	Brazil	Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Fukuroi city, Japan	WCF	1	2	NL	[1-1]
796	07-Sep-2002	Portugal	Villa Park, Birmingham	F	1	1	HD	[1-0]
798	16-Oct-2002	Macedonia FYR	The Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium, Southampton	ECP	2	2	HD	[2-2]

(left) Michael Owen models the new uniform.
 (right) The England team turn out in numbers at the promotional session for the new strip.

image supplied from and available at Wiggysports

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