How does the English National Team always manage to play with the white jersey?

Thanks to the victory against Switzerland, England has reached the semi-finals of Euro2024. It is the second consecutive edition of the European Championships in which England has reached at least the semi-finals and on the day of Gareth Southgate's 100th match as manager of the national team, England ended a streak of four consecutive defeats in penalty shootouts. This is in terms of the sporting side. Perhaps also out of superstition, England has worn the traditional white jersey in all of their matches in this Euros. Or rather, the match against Switzerland confirmed that England is using two different kits for the home jersey: one with white shorts and one with navy blue shorts. This is partly due to UEFA regulations, which prohibit two teams from having parts of their kit in the same color, but at the same time do not allow for changes to be made to the first or second jersey. However, England is one of three national teams that have worn a modified kit during Euro2024 compared to the original model.

The other two are Italy and France, but there is a big difference compared to the case of England. Italy wore blue shorts with their home jersey against Croatia and Switzerland, borrowing them from the second kit, while they only used the home jersey with white shorts in their opening match against Albania. The same goes for France, who have only worn their home jersey once so far, against Poland in the last match of the group stage. In that case, Mbappé and his teammates did not wear white shorts as per the model, but instead borrowed the blue shorts from the second kit. In both cases, therefore, it was a modification using pieces that were already available. The case of England is different.

In two out of their five matches so far, England has worn their navy blue shorts with their home jersey. This happened against Denmark in the group stage and against Switzerland in the quarter-finals. In the other three matches against Serbia, Slovenia, and Slovakia, they wore white shorts with the home jersey. Officially, the base model is the one with navy blue shorts, a garment specifically made for the home jersey to match the white inserts. However, the same can be said for the white shorts: the model for the second kit features a solid dark grey outfit with colorful patterns on the sides of the shorts. Even the goalkeeper kits do not include white shorts, and this product is not available on the official national team store. It is therefore a stylistic detail that has allowed Bellingham and his teammates to always wear the iconic white jersey throughout the tournament, without having to resort to the second kit, at least for now.