Why England and Wales are playing with no names on the back of their shirts

Thomas Tuchel's England are looking to build on their promising performance during September's international break with a result over Wales at Wembley this evening.

The Three Lions are expected to book their place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America next week, should they get a likely result against Latvia in qualifying.

Before that, though, Tuchel's men host Craig Bellamy's Wales at the national stadium in what will be the two teams' first meeting since England's 3-0 victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

England and Wales to wear special shirts in aid of charitable awareness campaign

England are on a seven-game winning streak over their neighbours and have not lost to the Welsh since 1984.

These days, the Wales team features plenty of Premier League players including Leeds United pair Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon, as well as AFC Bournemouth's David Brooks.

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England are likely to make changes, giving Tuchel an opportunity to see more of his fringe players under the national team spotlight, before deciding his squad for the upcoming World Cup.

Ahead of kick-off, the two teams will take to the field alongside 22 mascots, however, these mascots will not be children, as is usually the case.

Instead, 22 people living with dementia will walk out with the England and Wales starting line-ups, as part of a new campaign raising awareness of the disease by charitable organisation, Alzheimer's Society.

During the second half, players will take to the field with special shirts that do not bear their names on the back, highlighting the memory loss that occurs for those affected by the disease.

"We're so happy that we can raise a subject like this and bring it into the spotlight," Tuchel said in his pre-match press conference. "This is only a positive thing that we can do as a national team and I know that the players are happy to contribute into such actions.

"It makes you always, straight away, aware of how lucky we are and how privileged we are and makes us just very, very grateful," he added.