England Kit History: 2000-2009

As regular readers will know I am looking to document the England Men’s National Football Team’s Kit History from 1960 to The Modern Day, creating some reference articles and documents for those that like to have quick reference to these things.

So far, you can find the following, with this piece being the penultimate deep dive into a single decade.

It’s the 21st Century and England played 117 Games between 2000 and 2009, is the most games played by England Men’s Team in a decade, which The Three Lions wore their Primary (Home) Kit 87 times and Secondary Kits 30 times, no 3rd kit this time! However, it was the most time change kits have been worn with 25.5%, just over a quarter of the total games played.

The 2000s was a decade where England’s kits were solely supplied by Umbro but as we will see the frequency of changing was becoming an annual event for at least one kit.

2000 – 2001

England entered the 21st Century with kits they ended the 20th Century in, this is only year in this decade that we do not see a new kit in, as theme to rotate new Primary and Secondary Kits each year is in full swing in the 00’s!

2000 Started with England playing three games in a row in their secondary kit, in fact this year England played four games at home this year and wore this secondary kit in all of these games against Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Germany in the final game at the Old Wembley Stadium.

At the Euro 2000, England failed to make it past the group stages and wore their Home Kit in the defeats to Portugal and Romania, however their solitary victory in the tournament against Germany gave us the rare sight of these countries both playing in their Secondary Kits!

The final game of the year, against Italy was the final run out of then Primary Kit, one of the most under-rated kits in their Kit History was only used for 19 months and just 12 games.

2001 kicked off with England’s first Foreign Manager Sven-Göran Eriksson in charge and also started with a new Primary Kit and it was the re-introduction of red into the kit, with a thin stripe now included that went through the crest on both shirt and shorts!

The following game against Finland was the only (and final) appearance of Secondary Kit, having worn this kit seven times between 1999 and 2001, six of these appearances were in Home Games, the other as mentioned above in Euro 2000!

We did see a variation of the Primary Kit with white shorts, the all white look was used in two games and famously worn then David Beckham scored an injury time free kick to send England to 2002 World Cup!

2002 – 2003

2002, a tournament year and time for a new Secondary Kit, this one was a first… the version for sale was a reversible shirt, with the red football shirt containing a navy leisure shirt on it’s reverse! It made its first on pitch use against Italy in March but was most well known for being worn at 2002 World Cup against Argentina and was worn five time that year!

2003, started with the only appearance of a Secondary Kit that year and the final use of the reversible Secondary Kit, in a game against Australia which Wayne Rooney made his debut for England in one of 11 half time substitutes!

This year’s new kit was a Primary Kit and it was an evolution of previous kit, with more red being introduced into the kit, with sleeve trim being solid red and like the secondary kit it was also reversible with an alternative leisure shirt for the versions that were sold to fans!

One of the most important aspects of this shirt was the introduction of the “Star”, a single star was added to an England Shirt for the first time to signify their World Cup win in 1966. Although not it was not place above the crest, which returned to a central position as seen in the 90s, the star was located on left sleeve of the shirt!

All white was starting to become a regular alternative for England in these years, this look was worn three times in 2003.

2004 – 2005

There was a new Secondary Kit launched in 2004, and another red shirt and the current theme of the St.George’s cross influenced a secondary kit for the first time, with small crosses placed on the shoulders which was to represent fans having scarfs wrapped around their shoulders!

A big difference with this kit was the introduction of silver, the details, including nameset was silver and the shorts were also silver in colour, there was also a small piece of gold, with the star now located above the Crest for the first time in England Kit History.

This kit was worn 7 times in 14 games of 2004, the most we have seen in a single year and half of the total games, however it was only worn once in Euro 2004 tournament!

Another Primary Kit was introduced, and that St.George’s cross theme continued once again, with a single cross on the right shoulder, the World Cup winning start was placed above the crest on a Primary shirt for first time!

This kit was worn once in all white this year, when England played in USA against Colombia, there is something about this all white look that did not work for me and a little jarring compared with the all white looks used in the previous two kits!

2006 – 2007

2006 kicked off a run of 3 years in a row where new kits were worn in the opening games of the year, this time is was another Secondary kit and you guessed it, the St.George’s cross was the theme again with a cross detail on the right shoulder, however silver detailing was upgraded to gold…

A larger crest gave this shirt a more classic feel and was influenced by the kit worn 40 years earlier when England lifted the World Cup!

The Primary Kit was worn 10 times out of the 14 games this year and for the second major tournament in a row England wore their Secondary Kit just once in the group stages! The only one variation was used when the all white with this kit returned for it’s 2nd and final outing against Croatia!

2007 started with a new Primary Kit and there was a lot going on with this shirt, lots of detail, asymmetric patterns, a couple of Umbro Logos and some shoulder tapping!

England returned to a rebuilt Wembley Stadium in this kit, wearing in their first game under the Wembley Arch against Brazil having played across the Country since September 2000!!

This kit was in 11 times of 12 games in 2007, with alternative white shorts being used 3 times (two of these games at home)!

The only appearance of the secondary kit was the game against Estonia in June, which was the final appearance of the 2006 Secondary Kit, being just used 5 times in total!

2008 – 2009

England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, so the year start with another new kit (Secondary this time) and England’s second foreign manager with Fabio Capello taking charge of The Three Lions!

The new Secondary Kit was one of those forgotten kits, possbily due the fact that England failed to reach a major tournament so it was not seen on this stage!

It seem to be Umbro’s take on classic Admiral look of 1982, with blue (navy in this case) and white panels across the crest, a little more subtle than the Admiral version but an interesting look for the time!

This was another year which gave us half the games England played in a Secondary Kit, wearing it 5 times in total out of 10 games that year! England ending 2008 with 3 different kit looks in 3 games, wearing the current Primary Kit in it’s default look for the final time against Belarus in October!

The year ended with England wearing their briefly used Secondary Kit for the last time, this would also be the last time we see England in Secondary colours this decade.

England started 2009 in an all white look against Spain, using this Primary Kit for its final use and the busy design that had been used since 2007 was replaced with a Kit that in it’s visual concept was at the other end of the spectrum of what we had previously seen!

This was the “Tailored by Umbro” era and its first kit was what is considered by many kit lovers and England fans to be one of the finest kits in Three Lions Kit History!

Simple in it’s design, give us a wonderfully classic look and also moved away from blue shorts as default choice being all white and details within the shorts also being white to add to the clean look of the kit!

This kit was worn for the next 7 games, the longest “Kit-Streak” of a single kit look being used this decade and was worn 10 out of the 11 games that year!

The only game where all white was not used was against Ukraine which gave us navy shorts as an alternative look for the first time!

This made 2009 the first year since 1980 in which England did not wear a change kit in a calendar year!

Breakdown per year – 117 Games in Total

2000 – 11 Games
- 1 Primary Kit Variation
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2001 – 10 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2002 – 13 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2003 – 11 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2004 – 14 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2005 – 11 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2006 – 14 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2007 – 12 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2008 – 10 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
2009 – 11 Games
- 3 Primary Kit Variations

Well, that is the 2000’s completed, 117 games in total, little in kit variations with only Primary Kit used in All White as an different Kit Look but there were six official primary and five secondary kits used.

I will return with a look back at the 2010’s for the final installment in these deep dive looks (well until the end of 2029!).

Let me know your thoughts and comments below or over at @Kit_Geek and a reminder that the overall visual page of the England Kit History is now also live on the site here

Resources for this article / project

England Football Online

Historical Football Kits

True Colours – Volume 2 and International Kits