Fans believe they noticed a minor mistake on England’s home shirt during the Three Lions’ World Cup qualifier victory over Albania at Wembley Stadium on Friday evening. The match was a 2-0 victory for England.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, who was making his debut for England, and Harry Kane, who is the captain of the team, both scored goals in England’s victory over Albania, which was a relatively routine accomplishment.
The match was also the first game that head coach Thomas Tuchel had coached the team, and fans were eager to get a glimpse of his team’s strategy and how they set up for the game.
In the midst of all of this, it was simple to overlook a minor mistake that was printed on the home shirt of the Three Lions; however, there were some fans who were able to recognise the error.
There was a subtle detail on the shirt that supporters noticed, which was different from the jerseys that had been worn on previous match days.
The players’ squad numbers were printed on the middle of their shirts during the European Championships at the end of the previous summer. The Nike logo was placed on the right side of their chests, and the England crest was placed on the left side.
On the other hand, the players’ squad numbers were printed directly underneath the Nike ‘Swoosh’ on Friday.
All of the players in the outfield wore the same sequence, with the exception of the custodian, Jordan Pickford, who wore his number in the typical central position.
Before Patrick Frost, England’s senior kit manager, shed some light on the situation, fans were debating whether or not this was due to a new regulation from UEFA or whether it was simply a mistake.
“Printed the first shirt and put them in wrong place so then had to do them all in same place,” Frost wrote in response to a fan via X on Friday evening. “Since then, I had to do them all in the same place.”
“We will return to our regular schedule on Monday… but I want to commend you for noticing.”
The question was also posed by a fan: “Who decides which numbers the players wear, Pat?” Over the course of the past year, we have gone from having a starting eleven for every game to now having squad numbers for each camp. This is something that fascinates me.
Frost’s response to this was, “Squad numbers are better for the kit department because we can print shirts in advance.” But that is not up to us to decide.”
When they play Latvia at Wembley Stadium on Monday, England will be back in action for the first time a week. Following that, Tuchel will not have the opportunity to work with his players until the month of June, when the Three Lions will play Andorra in a World Cup qualifier before playing Senegal in a friendly meeting.
