THE VITALS:

Team: England

Brand: Nike

Era: 2020-22 (Used for the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League, the 2020 UEFA European Championships, the 2020 UEFA European Championships Final, the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League, the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Campaign and during the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League)

Name/Number: Grealish #7

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This shirt is in nothing short of excellent condition – looking very close to brand new as you are going to find! The shirt bears no sign of wear, meanwhile the applications and decal is all without blemish.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 23 inches

Shirt Length: 30 inches 

Made by Nike in their ‘Dri-Fit’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2020; this shirt provides what appears to be excellent dimensions for an extra-large fitting football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

To usher in the era of the 2020’s; Nike drew inspiration from England’s 1998 World Cup classic, with the centralised crest and use of navy and red accents, as well as the navy collar. Nike’s use of the staggered side panel as part of their template they introduced ahead of the 2020-21 season was also a perfect modernisation of the red and navy side panels which the aforementioned classic shit produced by Umbro. This kit cycle would be used across an incredible 33 matches and was used exclusively in all 7 of England’s run to the final of Euro 2020 – including their victory over Germany in the Round of 16. This shirt would also be used during big wins over both Wales and Belgium in 2020. This shirt would also be the first England home shirt to be worn be the upcoming stalwarts of the national side such as: Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Kalvin Phillips, Jude Bellingham, Reece James, Ben White, Emile Smith-Rowe.

THE SEASON(S):

During the November 2019 round of international fixtures, the men’s England national team would play their 1000^th and 1001^st respective fixtures – beating Montenegro 7-0 in front of over 77,000 fans at Wembley to celebrate the landmark occasion and then they would sign for the year and the decade of the 2010’s by beating Kosovo 4-0 on 17^th November to comfortably win their group and reach the finals of Euro 2020!

Nobody could have forecast at that time that international football would not resume again until September 2020; with the competition being postponed for another 12 months – however, the Coronavirus pandemic that devastated the world in 2020 ensure exactly that!

Nevertheless, the green-light was given for international competition to resume in September 2020; albeit with one of the most crammed calendars in history where all six of the Nations League Group Stage fixtures needed to be completed, alongside kicking off the qualifying campaign for the 2022 FIFA World Cup before the rescheduled Euro 2020 was due to kick off in June 2021. This all amidst an ever changing global stance towards the pandemic and the restrictions that it enforce; and a 2020-21 season that started in late September!

Gareth Southgate’s ‘Three Lions’ would reconvene on 5^th September in Iceland where they finally avenged their upset at the hands of the Scandinavian nation at Euro 2016 when they won 1-0 thanks to Raheem Sterling’s 92^nd minute penalty. Three days later, they would be held to a goalless draw away against Denmark in their second clash of the 2020-21 Nations League. Three fixtures in six days was the norm in the autumn and winter of 2020 at club level and the internationals were no different.

Despite the heavy schedule; England would emerge victorious in wins at home over Wales and then Belgium, however, Denmark would become the first nation to defeat England at home since Spain did in September 2018 when they won 1-0 on 14^th October. The final three fixtures in 2020 would be another slog of three fixtures in six days, and after defeating the Republic of Ireland 3-0 at home, they would be felled 2-0 by Belgium to deny England a place in the semi-final in 11 months time. The year would at least end with a fine 4-0 win over Iceland.

The national team next got together in March 2021 where they began qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup, and they began the road to Qatar with a trio of victories in the order of: San Marino, Albania and then Poland. Fast forward to June 2021 and the 2020-21 European club season has somehow concluded as scheduled and the national side would they would finish preparations for Euro 2020 with a pair of 1-0 wins coming over Austria and Romania respectively as the nation held their breath for England’s Euro 2020 opener against Croatia on 13^th June.

That Sunday afternoon came with 18,497 allowed to spectate at Wembley Stadium and Raheem Sterling’s goal would separate the two sides as England won 1-0. Up next came a first ever meeting at a European Championship between England and Scotland since 1996 in what was the visitors first appearance at a major competition since the World Cup in 1998. The clash of Britain would end 0-0 to temper what began as very high expectations for the team to win the competition outright. In their final Group Stage outing; England would see of the Czech Republic 1-0 with again Sterling coming up with the winner to see England win their group and set up a mouth-watering clash with eternal rivals – Germany in the Round of 16.

Speaking of Euro 1996; it was Gareth Southgate – the incumbent England manager who crucially missed his penalty when England met Germany in the semi-final on that unforgettable summer night in England. Over 41,000 fans were allowed to spectate at Wembley Stadium and Raheem Sterling came up trumps once again and Harry Kane would score his first goal of the competition as England vanquished Germany to reach the quarter-finals!

Fans were already seeing a route to the final as a win over Ukraine in Rome on 3^rd July would set up a semi-final against either Czech Republic or Denmark at Wembley on 7^th July, with the final taking also taking place on Wembley Stadium on 11^th July.

England would deliver in their only ‘away’ fixture of the competition when they overwhelmed Ukraine 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. Their semi-final opponents would be Denmark – the last side to have beaten England at home. The Dane’s were the surprise package of the competition having suffered the tragic loss of their talisman – Christian Erikesen in one of the watershed moments of the tournament when he collapsed during their opening clash with Finland, Denmark would recover from defeats in both of their first two games – to rally en-route to a first semi-final appearance since 1992 when they won the tournament!

An attritional 1-1 draw reached extra time where Harry Kane would net the winner to secure a 2-1 win and a first ever appearance in a final at a European Championships! Italy, the tournament’s best performing side would be their opponents in the 11^th July finale at Wembley. Another 1-1 draw would unfold however, penalties would be needed to determine the winner. After taking a 2-1 advantage in the shoot-out; England would miss their remaining three spot-kicks and would have to watch on as Italy became two-time European Champions.

The ’Three-Lions’ would dust themselves off in September to resume qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar and in their seven qualifiers they took part in to see out the year; Gareth Southgate’s side were well on their way to reaching the tournament finals as they won five and drew two games to end a very successful 2021 where they went unbeaten over 90 minutes in all 19 fixtures that year failing to win in just four of those ties, and would end the year by beating San Marino 10-0 on 15^th November!

2022 would begin with a pair of friendly victories after they saw off Switzerland 2-1 before beating the Ivory Coast 3-0 to end the March round of internationals. With the 2021-22 club season concluding; the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League got underway in June and England would suffer their first defeat within normal time since November 2020 when they were stunned 1-0 away against Hungary in what the first game in a 10 period. England’s worst patch of results since 2014 would materialise over this series of fixtures as Hungary did the double over them, sandwiching draws against Germany and Italy to leave their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Nations League hanging by a thread.

The notable players that season(s) were:

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Marcus Rashford, Tammy Abraham, Danny Ings, Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Sako, Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, James Ward-Prowse, Eric Dier, Luke Shaw, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Conor Coady, Tyrone Mings, Ben Chilwell, Ben White, Reece James, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope