England 2026 Away Jersey

A flight, an unfamiliar stadium, a visitor's section way up high.

Outside its borders, England loses its status. It becomes just another team again, forced to go and get a result in front of stands that wish it no good.

English nights far from Wembley

Turin, July 4, 1990. Stadio delle Alpi, 62,628 spectators, the first World Cup semi-final played by England away from home. Andreas Brehme opens the scoring in the 59th minute, Gary Lineker equalizes in the 80th. Then come the penalty kicks: Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle miss, West Germany goes through 4-3. Paul Gascoigne cries on the pitch, booked, already ruled out of the final. Bobby Robson's team returns beaten yet changed.

Rome, October 11, 1997. A point is enough at the Stadio Olimpico to reach the World Cup in France. Glenn Hoddle has made the trip without Alan Shearer. Paul Ince, captain that evening, gets back up with a cut forehead after an aerial duel with Demetrio Albertini and finishes the match with his head bandaged. Ian Wright hits the post. Zero-zero, and England has qualified.

Munich, September 1, 2001. Germany has not lost at the Olympiastadion since 1973 and is dominating the qualifying group by a wide margin. Carsten Jancker scores in the 6th minute. There follows one of the most improbable nights in English football: Michael Owen scores three goals, in the 12th, 48th, and 66th minutes, Steven Gerrard his first international goal in first-half stoppage time, Emile Heskey the fifth in the 74th. Germany 1, England 5, in front of 63,000 people who had not come to see that.

Moscow, July 3, 2018. Spartak Stadium, round of 16 against Colombia. Harry Kane converts a penalty, the equalizer comes in stoppage time, and the penalty shootout returns like an old curse. Jordan Pickford saves the fifth Colombian attempt, Eric Dier scores the last one. First penalty shootout won by England in a World Cup.

Four cities, four decades, no matches played at home.

On each of these evenings, a few thousand English supporters occupied a corner of the stands, very far from home. It is this part of history that an away kit tells.