England Retro Football Shirts

The 1970s marked a revolution in England’s kit history — the arrival of Admiral as the first commercial kit manufacturer. Gone were the plain white shirts of the 1966 World Cup winners; in their place came kits with identity, with stripe detailing, with visible branding. The 1974 Admiral home shirt with its distinctive red and blue sleeve stripes was unlike anything England had worn before.

England failed to qualify for both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, meaning these kits are more associated with European Championship campaigns and friendlies than tournament glory. Original Admiral shirts in good condition are rare and increasingly sought after — their novelty value in the retro market makes them particularly desirable for collectors.

Umbro replaced Admiral as England’s kit manufacturer in the early 1980s and immediately brought a cleaner, more refined aesthetic. The 1984 home shirt — bright white with a subtle shadow stripe — is a classic of the era, but it’s the 1986 World Cup kits that define this decade for most England fans.

At Mexico 86, England wore one of their most beloved home shirts — a bright white Umbro design with a modest red and blue trim — as Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker and Peter Beardsley carried England to the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by the Hand of God and then Maradona’s individual genius in the same game. The shirt carries the weight of that heartbreak perfectly. The 1987-90 away shirt in dark navy is another collector’s favourite — understated, elegant, very much of its era.

If you ask any England fan to name their favourite kit, the answer almost certainly comes from the 1990s. This was Umbro at its creative peak — producing shirts with genuine character, texture and identity that the Nike era has never matched. Three tournaments, three iconic sets of shirts, all of them defining moments in English football history.

Italia 90 gave us the most beloved England away shirt of all time — the light blue Umbro design that was on the back of Gazza when he cried, on Platt’s back when he volleyed that last-minute winner against Belgium, and worn through England’s best World Cup campaign in a generation. The 1990 home shirt — a classic white Umbro with subtle texture — is almost equally revered. Original versions of both now command £200-£350+ in excellent condition.

Euro 96 produced the waffle-weave home shirt that is arguably England’s finest ever kit — the distinctive diamond-pattern fabric, the bold navy collar, the gold badge. It was worn during football’s most euphoric summer on home soil, with Shearer and Sheringham firing England to the semi-finals. The away shirt from this tournament — the blue and grey design that Shearer wore with his name and number 9 — is equally iconic and commands eye-watering prices for originals.

France 98 brought another Umbro classic — the home shirt with its subtle red and blue detail, worn as England went out on penalties to Argentina in one of the great World Cup matches. Beckham was sent off, Shearer scored, Owen announced himself to the world with that goal. The shirt carries all of it.

Umbro continued into the 2000s with a series of increasingly sophisticated designs. The 2001-03 home shirt — worn during Beckham’s iconic free-kick against Greece that sent England to the 2002 World Cup — is one of the era’s most significant kits. In Japan and South Korea, England wore a clean white Nike-style design as Beckham, Owen, Heskey and Scholes reached the quarter-finals.

The mid-2000s brought some of Umbro’s more experimental designs — the 2006 World Cup home shirt with its textured fabric and subtle detailing was worn in Germany as England under Sven-Göran Eriksson crashed out to Portugal on penalties yet again, Rooney getting sent off in the process. Beckham’s penalty miss, Lampard’s miss, Gerrard’s miss. The shirt of penalties heartbreak.

The 2008-10 away shirt — the red design worn during Beckham’s later England appearances — is a collector’s favourite from this era, particularly with Beckham #7 printed. It’s one of the most recognisable England away shirts of the decade.

Nike replaced Umbro as England’s kit manufacturer in 2012 and the contrast was immediate — cleaner, more technical, less characterful. The 2013-15 home shirt was England’s first full Nike design, and while it was perfectly competent, it lacked the personality of the Umbro era. England wore it at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where they were eliminated in the group stage — Roy Hodgson’s tournament to forget.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia brought Southgate’s England back to life — and with it a renewed interest in England shirts. The 2018 home shirt, worn as England reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1990, became one of the best-selling England kits of the Nike era. Trippier’s free-kick against Croatia in that white shirt — 20 minutes of pure belief before the heartbreak. The shirt carries that perfectly. Kane’s golden boot, Pickford’s saves, Dier’s penalty. It was a special shirt for a special tournament.

England entered the 2020s as genuine tournament contenders for the first time in a generation. The 2022-23 home shirt — worn at the Qatar World Cup where England reached the quarter-finals — has already become collectable, particularly versions featuring Bellingham #22, who announced himself as a generational talent at that tournament. Kane, Saka, Rashford, Bellingham — player-specific versions of this shirt are in high demand.

The 2024-25 kits mark the beginning of a new England era under Lee Carsley and then Thomas Tuchel. With Bellingham, Saka, Palmer and a generation of elite young talent, the current shirts may well be worn during England’s most significant tournaments yet — the World Cup 2026 arrives on home continent, hosted across North America.