FIFA confirm gold sleeve patches for past World Cup winners, including England, at 2026 tournament

England will carry a visible reminder of their only World Cup triumph into their 2026 tournament opener against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday, after FIFA confirmed that all past winners will wear a special gold sleeve patch during the competition.

The patch, which commemorates each nation’s previous World Cup victories, will appear on designated home kits — a category that covers England’s opening group games against Croatia and Ghana. In designated away fixtures, previous winners will instead wear white patches with gold fill. Nations that have never won the World Cup will wear standard black and white patches for their respective home and away games.

Nike unveiled England’s base kits for the tournament back in March, but the sleeve patches represent a late addition confirmed by FIFA ahead of the competition’s opening matches. The gold patches are not the only new detail: players making their World Cup debut will also be handed special ‘debut’ patches to wear on their sleeves throughout the tournament.

England manager Thomas Tuchel’s side face Croatia first, before travelling to Foxborough to meet Ghana in their second group game, and then facing Panama in New Jersey in their final group fixture.

Arsenal winger Eberechi Eze, speaking ahead of the Croatia clash, suggested that the winning culture he experienced at club level this season could prove a valuable asset for the national team. “I think it’s important for the players’ confidence to have that under your belt — experience winning, experience achieving what you set out to achieve,” he said. “It gives you a different level of confidence and for a lot of players to experience that, it’s only going to help the team.”

Eze added that the squad’s focus remains firmly on the immediate task rather than longer-term ambitions. “It’s more about focusing on what needs to be done to achieve what we want to achieve. It’s not overthinking about the future and how long we’re going to be here. It’s more the steps towards getting there. We all have goals of course and we know what the goal is for us but focusing on the next game and to win. That’s it.”