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.
- England Kit History: 1960-1969
- England Kit History: 1970-1979
- England Kit History: 1980-1989
- England Kit History: 1990-1999
- England Kit History: 2000-2010
- England Kit History (Reference Page)
We have now reached the final piece (for the moment) of our deep dive into England’s Kit History, the 2010s and a decade in which England played 120 Games between 2010 and 2019, this is the most games played by England Men’s Team beating the previous decade by 3 games.
The Three Lions wore their Primary (Home) Kit 89 times and Secondary Kits 28 times and a return of a 3rd kit worn 3 times! It was another decade where change kits increased in their usage, being worn with 25.8%, just over a quarter of the total games played.
The 2010s was also the decade where England’s kits would change manufacturer for the first time in 30 years and there would be all kinds of shorts and socks used with their kits!
2010 – 2011
Much like the previous years, 2010 kicked off with a launch of a new kit, this was partner to wonderful Tailored by Umbro Primary Kit, a very plain but stylish secondary kit in classic red! The Kit was again influenced in design of the 1966 World Cup Winning kit, for the second World Cup in a row! The difference here being the white trim on the cuffs of the sleeves.
For the World Cup in South Africa, England wore their All White Primary in their opening two fixtures and then followed this up by wearing all red in their final group match and the defeat to Germany, this was the final use of this shirt only being used four times in 2010.
The final time the Primary Kit was used was in a friendly with Hungary in 2010 at Wembley, this kit was used a total of 14 times in it’s 18 month life and will always be remembered as one of the best England Kits!
This meant a new Primary Kit, and one that was launched in September… a first for England in their Kit History. The Kit was still part of the “Tailored by Umbro” range and was designed by Peter Saville and contained several different colour St.George’s crosses across the shoulders of the kit, the more significant design change was the re-introduction of blue shorts, however this time royal blue was back for the first time since the Admiral kit was used in 1983.
It was not until the following September, that England would use another look and this again was the introduction of a new kit, and this one was a big change. The Secondary Kit was a colour that had never been worn by England before, officially marketed as “Galaxy” blue, this Navy / dark blue shirt included “Regatta” light blue shorts and details including nameset. Another kit from “Tailored by Umbro” range, this would be the final change kit in Umbro Era.
2012 – 2013
Another tournament year was started with a new Primary Kit, the final Kit provided by Umbro and replaced the previous kit that was only worn 11 times in total.
This Kit was another first and a significant change to what has come before it, this Kit was All White much like the 2009 / 10 kit however this one only used red in it’s details, there was no blue included in the kit for the first time, including the crest!
During the Euros England wore their Primary Kit in three of their four games, the only change came in the game against Sweden where alternative “Galaxy” blue shorts were used to give all dark blue look, and one that worked really well, with no navy shorts being worn with the Primary Kit. This was the only time this kit look was worn in it’s five appearances.
Another Kit first would happen in August 2012, England played against Italy in a friendly and wore alternative Red Shorts, maintaining the white / red aesthetic of the kit, this was the first (and currently only) time England had worn red shorts with their Primary Kit
2013 was a year of change, the game against Montenegro in March 2013 would be the final time that England would play in an Umbro Branded Kit!
The Nike Era had begun, in terms of kits the first kits launched were to celebrate England’s 150th Anniversary and arguably the Primary Kit is still one of the best kits produced by the US Manufacturer. A simple but classic look, with a return of Navy Shorts with the Primary Kit for the first time in it’s default look since 2008!
The new Secondary Kit returned to another classic red / white / red look, again with a simple shirt in terms of design, with a gold detailed crest to mark the 150th Anniversary.
2014 – 2015
2014 would see the start of a trend of Nike introducing new kits in a tournament year, this meant their first Nike Kits had a very short life, with that Primary Kit only be worn 8 times and Secondary kit being worn just twice!
This also meant that England had used 5 different Primary Kits in just under 4 years between August 2010 to May 2014.
The 2014 Kits for World Cup were part of a period were FIFA guidelines with kits suggested that one colour kits were preferred, so many teams followed this requested having single colour kits, England’s Primary Kit being one of them!
The Kit returned to All White, for the 3rd time in last 5 years, this time with Royal Blue details returning the kit.
The new Secondary Kit was worn in build up to the World Cup but did not make any appearances in the tournament itself, again red with white shorts in it’s default look, the shirt this time contained a subtle pinstripe within the shirt.
The End of gave us another Kit first for England, playing the “Auld Enemy” Scotland, where they wore all white for first time in what was 112th meeting of the two countries.
2015 was fairly uneventful in terms of kits, however the two uses of the Secondary Kit that year did provide England with an alternative look and the first use of an alternative shorts with an England Kit in 3 years, the all red look was used in games against Slovenia and San Marino.
2016 – 2017
2016, and the introduction of the Nike Vapor Template… one of the most controversial looks in England Kit History, with many fans rating this was one of the worst kits England has had. I am very much in the minority, as I really liked this look, it was a brave design choice and I think it worked really well… the kit contained sky blue sleeves, with royal blue rim and contrasting red socks.
The use of red socks was one that caused lots of debate, however if you go back over some of these deep dives, you will see it is a look that has been used over the years as an alternative!
England first used their Secondary kit in this template against Germany (who also wore their change kit), this kit used darker red sleeves, also maintained the royal blue trim and had royal blue contrasting socks and it was used five times in total this year, including once at Euro 2016.
The Primary Kit was worn nine times in total and was worn in three out of the four Euro 2016 games!
2017 kicked off with another new kit, this time a 3rd Kit or is it??
It was marketed as a change kit, not confirmed as 3rd kit and given the red away was used after this kit was released, so in the interests of these records, lets called it a 3rd kit! Again it was the Nike Vapor template but this time returned to a dark blue, called “Midnight” blue this time and paired with black detail and was reminiscent to final Umbro Secondary Kit of 2011 / 12 with its light blue nameset. This kit was worn 3 times in total, twice against Germany in 2017, both Home and Away!
The use of this kit in March 2017, kicked off a run of four games with four different kit looks, with this being followed up with the default Primary Kit (red socks) worn against Lithuania, then alternative red socks being worn against Scotland… the first time that England wore a worn change kit playing them – you can find a more detail article about this here but this was due to Scotland having white sleeves with their kit at the time.
The fourth game in this run was against France, where England wore alternative white socks with their Primary Kit, to create an all white look (well apart from the sleeves).
A two year period of England kits that I enjoyed, but possibly very much on my own with that viewpoint!
2018 – 2019
2018 was another tournament year so a new set of kits was to be launched and we return to a more conventional look for both Kits for England.
A return to dark blue Shorts, although a slightly different shade almost dark indigo rather than navy blue, with some red trim and details across the kit!
The Secondary Kit also return to a classic look, with red shirt and white shorts, this shirt did contain a large but subtle St.George’s cross within it pattern.
England had a successful World Cup campaign, reaching the Semi-Finals and playing 7 games in total. This offered plenty of opportunity for Kit variations to be used. They wore all red in their opening Group game against Tunisia and the Knock Out games against Colombia and Sweden, this meant that it was their most used look in the Tournament.
They wore their default Primary Kit against Panama and Belgium in the Group stages and then worn white shorts (Secondary Kit Shorts) in the Semi-Final defeat against Croatia, for their classic go to All White look.
A look they would end 2018 playing four games in, with the games in October and November all using white shorts.
The 3rd / 4th Playoff game against Belgium was another game where both teams wore their Secondary Kits, this was also their second meeting in the tournament with different kits for both teams in each of the games!
This also remains the last time (as of writing) that England wore a change kit in Major Finals, having worn just their Primary Kit at Euro 2020, World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024 in a total of 19 games!
Our final year of this decade England played just 10 games, 7 fewer than the previous year and in these games they wore their Primary Kit 9 times, 6 in it’s default look with blue shorts and 3 times with white Secondary shorts.
The only time the Secondary Kit was used it did give us a new kit look, with the red shirt being paired with white shorts and socks from Primary Kit. This was the first time England had worn Red / White / White since 1998 in the World Cup Group game against Colombia, 21 years prior to this.
The penultimate game of the Decade was against Montenegro and this was England Men’s National Team 1000th Game and in this game they played in their traditional look of white shirts, dark blue shorts and white socks.
Breakdown per year – 120 Games in Total
- 2010 – 12 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 2 Secondary Kit Variations
- 2011 – 9 Games
- 1 Primary Kit Variation
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 2012 – 13 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 2 Secondary Kit Variations
- 2013 – 12 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 2014 – 13 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 2015 – 10 Games
- 1 Primary Kit Variation
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 2016 – 14 Games
- 1 Primary Kit Variation
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 2017 – 10 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
- 1 3rd Kit Variation
- 2018 – 17 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 2 Secondary Kit Variations
- 2019 – 10 Games
- 2 Primary Kit Variations
- 1 Secondary Kit Variation
Well, that is the 2010’s completed, 120 games in total, plenty of kit usage, changes and looks throughout the 10 years and there were seven official primary, six secondary kits used and the single 3rd Kit and total of 23 different kit variations!
And that’s it, I hope you have enjoyed this series, and hopefully I will return to this in 2030 to look back at the 2020s!
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
True Colours – Volume 2 and International Kits
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 