Daksh Vijay

Nike Under Fire As 2026 England Home Kit Leak Sparks Collar Controversy

2026 FIFA World Cup, England National Football Team, Football Kits, Nike

With the World Cup just a few months away, fan excitement is high especially when it comes to discussing the new kits that are being released for the biggest stage.

With many federations like the host nations Canada, Mexico and the United States already having released their kits, it was only a matter of time before everyone else did as well.

England’s were the latest kits to come out, as leaks of both the home and away jerseys were distributed all over Twitter.

Out of both the Jerseys, the home kit from Nike seemed to have received feedback of both the positive and negative kind all over social media.

The jersey itself is predominantly white, with the designs on the kit resembling the star for England’s 1966 World Cup win and the Three Lions that are used to symbolise the English football team. It also featured red and black highlights running down the sides to add a touch of colour to an otherwise plain background. The designs on the jersey have been inspired by a Jacquard style fabric, which ahas been used to promote breathability and comfort.

Another very important feature that has been noted is the return of the red Letters and numbers for the front and back of the shirt. This particular feature of the shirt hasn’t been seen on an England shirt since 2020, a jersey that will bring back unpleasant memories of the Euro Final against Italy.

Fans in particular were very excited to see the return of the red numbers, as one Twitter user @slvstr1886 stated, “Nah, the red numbers. Cold”

There was another Twitter user who made another observation regarding the similarity of this particular kit to the ones that Umbro designed for England pre-2013.

The comparison can definitely be understood as England’s 1986 and 1988 home kits, designed by Umbro, come to mind.

Both jerseys feature a collar that is made to stand out against the white background with a design embedded in it, like the latest home kit.

However, not all feedback on the leak has been positive; many fans have complained and shown their displeasure regarding the triangular design of the collar.

Complaints about Nike’s unorthodox collars are not new, as Twitter user and Kit Nerd Jake voiced his displeasure regarding Nike’s collars not just for the England home but also for the Canada home and USMNT Away jerseys. – “Nike are actively trying to make awful necklines. There is no way they can think any of these are actually decent.”

Another Twitter user, Chris, stated the opinion that the kit would have worked much better with sporting the collar of the 86 and 88 kits that were discussed previously and based off the design you can see that the point can be seen as valid.

Despite the mixed feelings, the kit does have fans agreeing on the fact that it is one of their very best designs in recent years. Fans consider this jersey to be a major improvement over the ones launched for the Euro 2024 and the World Cup 2022.

In addition to this, the away jersey was leaked as well. The jersey features a red background with a jacquard style design as well. it contains a black collar and black highlights running down the side.

As a whole, it can be seen that fans are huge fans and remain optimistic that will see The Three Lions bring home silverware for the first time in 60 years.

The kits are set to go on sale by the end of this month. However, to add to the agony of the fans,the jerseys are set to be priced at atleast a 100 dollars or more based on past pricing trends. This situation once again raises the question of to what point fans should pay for a jersey before it becomes too expensive for them.

England will debut the new jerseys in a friendly match against Uruguay at Wembley on 28th March in preparation for their upcoming World Cup campaign.

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