People are only just realising why England play in white

England will begin their first World Cup campaign when they face Croatia, but not many know exactly why the Three Lions wear white.

After nearly a week of drama, the wait is finally over for fans looking to see how Thomas Tuchel will lead England for his first World Cup match as manager.

So far the World Cup has seen plenty of big upsets, with the likes of The Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium and tournament favourites Spain all failing to pick up a win in their opening match.

But England will be hoping they can get off to a flying start as they take in historic foes Croatia in what is widely regarded as the toughest fixture in Group L.

Ahead of the match kicking off, many fans have been wondering what kit England will wear during the match, with both the Three Lions and Croatia typically wearing white shirts during international fixtures.

For England, the nation's white strip has become synonymous with various moments over the years, like Leah Williamson creating history in it when she captained England's women to the Euros title last year, or Gareth Southgate leading his country to the final of Euro 2024.

Despite this, many fans still don't know why England wear white, so we're here to explain why.

Why is the England kit white?

When England faced Scotland in the first ever international football match back in 1872 - which ended 0-0 - both sides needed kits to play in.

Scotland opted for the dark blue, or navy, that they don to this day, because their team was made up of 11 Queen's Park players that wore their club kits. Why wouldn't you?

So England needed something different. According to the Daily Star, the FA provided the side that played in the game with the white strip, which could have been spare cricket kits.

It didn't stay that way, however. It was often the case that players would sew an England badge onto their club shirts and play in various colours.

But calls for consistency came and after a spell of players wearing white collared shirts with their club shorts and socks, the national side adopted the white shirt, navy shorts, white socks combo that remains to this day.

There have been periods where the side have had to wear white shorts too, but white and navy is the preferred look of choice, and it's unlikely that will be changing any time soon.