Classic Retro England Shirts

From the highs of 1966 to the lows of Italia 90 we look at some iconic England shirts from the last 60 years. Since the success of beating West Germany at Wembly in ‘66 England have run the whole gamut of emotions on the pitch. England have produced some great performances since winning the world cup, a 5-1 win over Germany in Berlin and a 4-1 over Holland in the 1996 European championships. Theirs been humiliations along the way too!  Defeats by Croatia and Denmark stand out as real low points for the English game. But lets be positive and concentrate on those performances that made us proud to be English.

Classic England Shirts

England 4 West Germany 2

So far the World Cup Final on 30th July 1966 is England’s greatest result to date. Playing in front of the home crowd at Wembley England lifted the ‘Jules Rimet’ Trophy after beating West Germany 4 ~ 2 after extra time. The unconventional formation employed by England became known as the “wingless wonders” with a narrow attacking formation, described at the time as a 4-3-3 (although the formation was nearer a 4-1-3-2).

The actual match still remains controversial to this day, largely down to the 3rd English goal which hit the crossbar and bounced into the net and back out again. The German players always stated that the ball did not cross the goal line, the Russian linesman that day disagreed and awarded the goal which made it 3~2 to the Allies England. The 4th English goal which broke German and Scottish hearts was scored in the last seconds of the match by Geoff Hurst, giving the player a very rare World Cup final hat-trick.

The controversial 3rd goal is often talked about, but few people remember that the 2nd West German goal appeared to strike the hand of Karl-Heinz Schnellinger whilst travelling through the penalty area. In Germany a ball that hits the crossbar and bounces in the net is known as a ‘Wembley-Tor” or Wembley goal! To English fans the game is best remember for the legendary commentators line “And here comes Hurst. He’s got… some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over. It is now! It’s four!”.

Germany 1 England 5

A 2002 World Cup qualify saw England tear Germany apart at the Olympiastadion in Munich on September 1, 2001. A German victory would have confirmed their qualification and seen England competing with Greece and Finland for a place in the qualification playoffs. Germany had been unbeaten at the Olympiastadion stadium since 1973. After just six minutes it seemed Germany would remain unbeaten at the stadium when Carsten Jancker was able to tap the ball past England’s goalkeeper David Seaman.

The lead did not last long, on the 12th minute, England were given a free kick. Nicky Barmby headed down to Owen, who volleyed the ball past Oliver Kahn. Just before the end of the half Steven Gerrard shot the ball into the corner of the German goal from 25 yards out, putting the score at Germany 1, England 2.

Three minutes after the kick-off, a cross from David Beckham found Emile Heskey, who headed the ball down to Michael Owen, who was unmarked. Owen hit the ball into right-hand corner of the net. Although Germany were able to create further chances in the second half, it was England who struck again in the 66th minute. Steven Gerrard’s successful tackle gave him possession, and he set up a great through ball for Owen, who sprinted into the box and fired the ball over Kahn’s head to give England a 4-1 lead. This made Michael Owen the first England player since 1966 World Cup winner Geoff Hurst to score a hat-trick against Germany.

England began to defend their heavy lead. However, in the 74th minute, they managed to extend it through a counter attack. Rio Ferdinand won the ball in defense and gave it to Paul Scholes. He progressed up the pitch through a one-two passing move with David Beckham. Scholes passed the ball to Emile Heskey, who sprinted past German defender Marko Rehmer and hit the ball low past Oliver Kahn to make it 5-1.

Holland 1 England 4

A European Championship Finals game at Wembley Stadium Tuesday June 18 1996 saw England were getting to grips with the game early on and were preventing Holland from playing their usual game. There was a scare though in the 20th minute when Cruyff flew past Anderton, but Pearce was able to prevent further danger when the ball deflected from him for a corner. The corner didn’t create anything for Holland but it did for England.

On the break from this play England charged forward through Sheringham and McManaman. The Liverpool winger found Ince who went past Blind. The Holland defender then turned after Ince and tripped him. The only action which could possibly have been taken was a penalty, which the referee awarded. Shearer coolly converted the spot-kick to break the deadlock.

England began the second period as they had started the first. Only six minutes had elapsed in the second half when from a corner, Sheringham headed the ball into the top of the net. There was jubilation around Wembley as England’s lead increased to two. Playing in control England didn’t sit back and defend but carried on trying to better their tally, and did so in the 57th minute. McManaman teamed up with Gascoigne for the Rangers star to find Sheringham, needing only to tap the ball to Shearer, who made no doubt of making the score 3-0. That was Shearer’s fourth goal in 3 games.

The scoreline was remarkable and still England kept going for more. The fourth came when a driving shot from Anderton flummoxed van der Sar, who couldn’t keep hold of the ball and Sheringham seized the opportunity of Holland’s mistake to give England a four goal margin over the Dutch. England were in defiant mood.

Classic Brazil Retro Shirts

If it’s samba style you’re after then take a look at classic Brazil shirts from the past. A retro Brazil shirt won’t help you play better but at least you’ll look the part!

The Brazilian national teams first ever match was against English club side Exeter City in 1914! To this day Exeter fans claim to have taught Brazilians how to play football! The result of the game (a 2 – 0 defeat for Exeter) suggest that the Brazilians already had a fairly good grasp of the basic rules. The famous quote about the game of football is “The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it.”

When we think of the Brazil team we always imagine the famous yellow shirts and electric blue shorts, but Brazil only started to wear the yellow and blue kit from the mid 1950’s. Before then Brazil flirted with a number of different colour combinations including: Red shirts & white shorts, white shirt & white shorts, yellow & green vertical striped shirts, yellow & black striped shirts and a few more variations besides! After an embarrassing defeat at home in the 1950 world cup the Brazilian public blamed the current kit (white shirt with blue collars) for the lose! claiming it wasn’t patriotic enough.

In 1951 a Brazilian daily newspaper held a competition to design a kit incorporating the four colours of the Brazilian flag. The design of nineteen year old Aldyr Garcia Schlee from the town of Pelotas was chosen as the winning entry. The new kit of yellow shirt with green trim and blue shirts echoed the design of the brazilian flag perfectly. The kit was first used in 1954 and has remained largely unchanged ever since.

You can view a full our full range of retro Brazil football shirts in our store ~ Click Here

Tottenham Retro Shirts

The white shirt of Spurs has been involved in some classic football games over the years, In 1963 Spurs put five past Atletico Madrid to win the European Cup Winners Cup and become the first English team to bring home a major European trophy.

Many of Spurs classic kits are linked with F.A. Cup triumphs, The Tottenham love affair with the F.A. Cup started in 1901 and Spurs have won the cup eight times including classic finals against Chelsea in ‘67, Manchester City in ‘81 and Forest in 1991.

Above is a brief selection of classic old school Spurs shirts worn by Tottenham legends: Ricky Villa, Blanchflower and Ossie Ardiles.

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Liverpool Retro Shirts

Liverpools now famous all red kit wasn’t adopted by the reds until the mid 60’s, before that Liverpools traditional colours had been red & white. Believe it or not, the Liverpool team of the early 1900’s ran out in a blue and white kit similar to Evertons!

The team that made Liverpool’s worldwide reputation was undoubtedly the side managed by the great Bill Shankly, and it was Skankly who first had the idea of the all red kit. As Ian St. John later recalled in his book: He (Shankly) thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact—red for danger, red for power. He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. “Get into those shorts and let’s see how you look,” he said. “Christ, Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look 7ft tall.” “Why not go the whole hog, boss?” I suggested. “Why not wear red socks? Let’s go out all in red.” Shankly approved and an iconic kit was born.

Above is a selection of the iconic shirts that helped Liverpool dominated English and European football for the last 40 years.

You can view all retro Liverpool shirts on our store pages ~ Click Here.