Southampton will face Manchester City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup later this month, but the Saints won’t be wearing their traditional red and white stripes.
Southampton have been granted permission to wear their special anniversary kit for their FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. The Saints have ditched their red and white stripes in favour of yellow throughout this season’s competition, including at home, such as when they beat Arsenal 2-1 last Saturday.
Inspired by their 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup final, the shirt is predominantly yellow with blue trim and marks Southampton’s only major trophy win to date. But its use at Wembley was in doubt, as FA rules state that from the semi-final stage onwards, clubs must wear a kit which was registered at the start of the season.
Now, though, Southampton have announced that they’ll be able to wear yellow when they face City at 5:15pm on Saturday, April 25. Southampton said: “The club is pleased to have been granted permission to wear the commemorative ’76-inspired yellow kit that has been a permanent fixture of this season’s FA Cup run for the victories over Doncaster, Leicester, Fulham and Arsenal.”
In another good omen for the Saints, they’ve been given the west end of Wembley. That’s where their fans watched them beat Leeds in the 2024 Championship play-off final.
Tonda Eckert’s men pulled off a famous win against Arsenal on Saturday to book their ticket to Wembley. Goals from Ross Stewart and Shea Charles either side of Viktor Gyokeres’ equaliser got the job done at a raucous St Mary’s.
The winner of their semi-final will play either Chelsea or Leeds in this year’s final on Saturday, May 16. Southampton are also chasing promotion to the Premier League, having suffered relegation back to the Championship last term.
The Saints beat promotion rivals Wrexham 5-1 on Tuesday to leapfrog their opponents and move into the play-off spots. Southampton also have a game in hand on all but one of the teams in the play-off mix.
“I think we are at a good moment physically and mentally, but we will need to close this game tonight, recover tomorrow and go again,” Eckert, who was appointed in December following an interim spell, hailed.
“I think when you come to this stage of the season you need everyone being ready to go. The group lives off a very good spirit, you can feel that. We travelled yesterday, and with the focus that we had in the morning session today, you could see that the boys were ready. That’s good to know for the games going forward.”
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