The UK’s largest sports retailer has activated a heritage marketing campaign fronted by Steve Bracknall, backed by a collection of England and Scotland replica shirts from the 1982–2004 era
Sports Direct has built its FIFA World Cup 2026 retail campaign not around new-season kits, but around shirts that fans already know by heart.
The centrepiece is an exclusive collection from Score Draw, the UK’s specialist in officially licensed heritage replica kits, covering England and Scotland editions from 1982, 1990, 1996 and 2004.
The campaign is fronted by Steve Bracknall, the content creator behind fictional club Royal Oak FC. He is joined by former internationals Ally McCoist and David Bentley, retired striker Adebayo Akinfenwa, and a range of community and creator voices.
Football nostalgia sells
Football nostalgia has become one of the more durable consumer currents in the sportswear market: vintage kits regularly outsell corresponding contemporary replicas on the secondary market, and the demand is generational, with younger fans wearing shirts from tournaments played before they were born, older fans reconnecting with moments they lived through.
World Cup cycles amplify this. The tournament creates a short window in which identity-driven apparel – the 1990 England shirt, the 1996 home kit – becomes simultaneously fashion object, cultural shorthand and conversation starter. Sports Direct’s campaign is designed to own that window. Adidas is doing the same with its Bringback Collection.
The activation
Beyond the short film, set on a terraced street in the English football heartland and titled “When Football Was Football” - a thoroughly nostalgic tagline – the activation extends into a live program. Bracknall will host fan nights and lead a road trip following England through host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, generating content throughout the tournament rather than concentrating spend at launch.
The collection is available in select stores and at Sportsdirect.com; further discounts are accessible via the group’s Frasers Plus loyalty scheme.
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