England Stars Were Left Exposed After Sponsor 'Leaked' Sensitive Details

England's starting XI for games is often shared ahead of time but back in 2014 there was a leak which was much more dangerous.

In June 2014, ahead of the World Cup in Brazil, England played Ecuador in a warm-up fixture at the Sun Life Stadium.

The game was a 2-2 draw, with Wayne Rooney and Rickie Lambert both on target as Raheem Sterling and Antonio Valencia were sent off late on.

But there was controversy prior to the match as England players had sensitive information shared with the entire world.

An hour before, teamsheets were handed out to members of the media in the press box as is standard practice.

However, these teamsheets also included every player's date of birth and passport numbers for the 18 seleced - as well as the signatures of Frank Lampard and Michelle Farrar, the director of England team operations.

It was also the case with Ecuador squad selected for the game.

England's teamsheet contained passport numbers. Image: X/@StanCollymore

Car manufacturer Vauxhall, a corporate sponsor of England's, accidentally posted a picture of the teamsheet on social media with all the details visible.

They deleted it fairly swiftly but it was too late as the image had widely circulated around the internet for all to see.

The sponsor issued an apology, stating: "We realised we made a mistake immediately and the tweet was deleted from our account within a minute. We have apologised to the FA for any embarrassment caused."

FA issue statement on England security breach

Meanwhile, the Football Association also issued a statement to media - confirming that they were not responsible for the error as they pointed the blame elsewhere.

The FA said: "It is a matter for the match organisers, the publication and distribution of the team sheets are their responsibility."

England legend and World Cup Golden Boot winner Gary Lineker saw the funny side, taking to X, formerly known as Twitter to write: "England have never lost a World Cup in which the players' passport numbers were on a pre tournament friendly team-sheet."

Lineker's joke ultimately didn't come true though as England failed to get out of the World Cup group stages and didn't even pick up a victory against Italy, Uruguay or Costa Rica.