The Football Kit Blog

The East London Hammers?

2008-10-28T12:43:00.004-04:00

I was watching West Ham v. Arsenal last night when I noticed something peculiar: Instead of a shirt sponsor on the front of their jersey, West Ham had their players' individual numbers screened onto the shirt. Examples here, here, and here.

It seems the Hammers have fallen victim to the global financial crisis. They entered the season sponsored by XL Leisure Group, who have since gone belly up. I guess that rather than leave the front of the shirt blank, the club decided to put something on there.

We've certainly seen this type of thing before, most notably in the World Cup. However, we've never seen it executed in this fashion. The numbers are pretty big and set against that white backdrop the Hammers now look like long–distance runners or an NFL team.

2008/09 Season Preview

2008-09-22T09:53:00.003-04:00

The season has kicked off all around Europe, so it is an appropriate time to reflect on the new kits that were released for the new season. So without further delay, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Let's start with the bad. I really don't like Arsenal's new home kit. Arsenal belong in all–white sleeves, period. That's my main gripe about the shirt. On the other hand, their away shirt is quite spiffy. Manchester United's new designs are so boring to me that I won't even link to them. I will give them credit though for not changing their home kit from last season's. I can't seem to get my head around Marseille's new away kit. Is it a breakthrough in football fashion or is it a horror show? I am leaning towards the latter. I think the argyle pattern might have worked if the colors were a bit more subdued. Honestly, can Lille's shirt sponsor be any bigger? Ligue 1 must be in major financial difficulty if French clubs are whoring out their shirts like this. It's been said in these pages before, that is no longer a football shirt. It is a racing shirt. AZ Alkmaar will be wearing collars reminiscent of 1890's football clubs. Big change at Ajax, where ABN–AMRO's familiar vertical advert has been supplanted by something called Aegon. I usually do not mourn the changing of a shirt sponsor, but c'mon. Ajax and that ad went hand in hand.

But the hands–down worst kit of the season has to go to Bolton Wanderers and this horrible Reebok outfit. That looks like a third–rate club's training shirt! Are they for real? Who looked at the prototype of that kit and said "Hey, that's nice. Let's go with that." ?

Now on to the good stuff: AC Milan restored order to their world by coming out with a fresh update to their timeless kit. A big improvement over last year's shirt. There was a lot of hubub over Barcelona's ditching of their famous stripes, but I say relax, people. That new home kit is splendid and evocative of their centenary shirt from back in the 1998 season. The away kit is also quite nice. Too bad they will continue to use their teal ensemble as their 3rd kit. Let's hope there are not too many occasions for that. Athletico Madrid went back to wearing blue shorts with their home kit, and the results speak for themselves. That is one of the best kits in the world. I thought Borussia Dortmund's home shirt was also a fresh take on a classic style. Those pinstripes just scream of the '80's to me. I like their away kit as well, but unfortunately it is ruined by that loud, diagonal sponsor. A couple of minimalist designs that I really like: Sporting Lisbon's away and Panathinaikos' home. I love that huge clover leaf on the shirt, reminds me of something out of the turn of the 20th century. Call me crazy but I like this design from Sevilla(one of their dozens of kits).

But my favorite kit of the new season: 1860 Munich. Here is a better view. I just love that design, it's fun and the color scheme ensures that it is not too tacky. This jersey would be absolutely perfect if they had Löwenbräu as the shirt sponsor(they used to back in the day).

Best of the Strange Kits: Shimizu S–Pulse

2008-09-11T01:31:00.002-04:00

Submitted here for you is Japanese Club Shimizu S–Pulse. I can't tell you much about Japanese football, but I can say that S–Pulse have a unique kit. There is usually some variation on the globe motif, perhaps because the club's shirt sponsor is Japan Airlines. This is the kind of kit that I admire in secret. I actually like the design but could never bring myself to wear it in public. Of course if I was a supporter, it would probably be a different story.

Update: My schedule's been pretty hectic lately, severely limiting my ability to post on a frequent basis. My apologies to those of you that been expecting our critique of the new kits released for the 08/08 season. Rest assured, the article is almost finished and will be published soon.

Best of the Strange Kits: Denmark '86

2008-08-01T09:30:00.001-04:00

This interesting kit for the Danish National Team was made by Hummel for the 1986 World Cup. Denmark had a great opening round in this tournament, with famous wins over West Germany and Uruguay, who they beat 6–1. I was a young boy watching this tournament and I was mesmerized by the Danes' fantastic team play. They had some great players like Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjaer, and Søren Lerby. I thought the Danes might be the heirs of total football.

I remember thinking at the time that the Danes kits looked like no other teams' in the tournament. I thought they looked so futuristic compared to the fairly simple designs of the other nations.

Unfortunately for the Danes, their good start in the tournament didn't carry over to the knock–out stage, where they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Spain.

The End of An Era

2008-07-30T00:23:00.001-04:00

According to this article, Athletic Bilbao of Spain will start wearing advertising on their shirt for the 2008/08 campaign. This is an unfortunate development, as Bilbao was one of the last clubs to have a shirt without a sponsor. Is there any club left now that is sponsor–free?

Best of the Strange Kits: Borussia Dortmund

2008-07-07T08:01:00.000-04:00

Over the next couple few posts we are going to exhibit some kits which deviated from the norm. I always try to keep an open mind when seeing new kits, and these kits certainly pushed the envelope.

First up is this neon yellow number from Borussia Dortmund, circa the mid 90s. Dortmund have been a Nike club for a very long time, save for a rather unfortunate period in the early 2000s when the club was making their own kits.

I liked this kit very much. It coincided with one of the greatest periods of success for the club, maybe that's why I always thought it looked so intimidating. To me it was futuristic yet classic. The thin hoops on the socks were a great touch.

New AC Milan Away shirt 08/09

2008-07-01T08:37:00.003-04:00

This is rumored to be AC Milan's new away shirt for the 2008/09 campaign. Milan invariably choose white as their away color, and in fact, white has been viewed as a lucky color for the club. Assuming this leak is legit, I think this is a pretty nice shirt for my beloved rossoneri. I like the cross on the shirt, it goes well with the motif of the club. Though it's a little surprising that Milan would feature a cross so prominently on their shirt after all the controversy last year with Inter. What I don't like is that bwin advert, I wish Milan would dump them ASAP. All in all, a pretty good shirt. Now I hope that Milan will release a new home kit. Last season's home kit was one of the worst in memory.

Euro 2008: The Football Kit Blog Report

2008-06-29T23:41:00.009-04:00

VIENNA–Euro 2008 will go down in history as an outstanding tournament full of nail–biting finishes. That will be the consensus throughout the world media. But how many columns will be devoted to the uniforms of the tournament? Not many, I gather. Here, without further adieu, is my take on the kits used in Euro 2008.

Let's start with the bad. In the past few major tournaments, I have noticed a trend of teams coming out in solid color kits. This is an unfortunate development. For example, Portugal used to wear this. In Euro 2008 (and going back further, actually) they have been wearing an all–red kit. It is certainly debatable which look is better, but the green shorts are no doubt more traditional. Take also the example of The Netherlands. When they came out wearing the orange shirt/white short/blue sock kit, they looked brilliant. But when they came out as they did in the majority of their matches in all–orange, it didn't work so well. And why, for example, can't France look like this when they play against Romania? Does UEFA really think television viewers won't be able to distinguish between the two sides?

This tournament was a complete disaster for Puma. In footballing terms, only one Puma team (Italy) made it to the knock–out stages. Puma also outfitted Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland. Game to game these teams looked indistinguishable from one another. Take a look at this, this, and this. Save for the crests, those kits are identical. It's the epitome of laziness. At least with Nike or Adidas there are some subtle touches that set each kit apart, but Puma apparently believes that all national teams should wear the same thing. The kits themselves are relatively nice but also a little boring. Those two sets of fonts they used for name & numbers weren't anything special either.

Adidas had a decent tournament, with several of the teams they outfit making it to the latter stages. The final was an all-adidas affair. The kits were pretty good too although somewhat predictable. My favorite of the lot was the German kit. My one major gripe would be those tacky name & number fonts.

Umbro was represented in the form of Sweden, and I think you'll agree it was another ho–hum effort by Umbro. No wonder this company loses sponsorship after sponsorship. For the most part there is nothing in their designs that make you want to part with your hard earned cash. England should wise up and ditch Umbro for Nike.

The big winner to me was Nike. Once again they took the effort of making unique kits tailored to each nation. A detail that particularly stuck out to me was the use of Turquoise in the Turkish away kit and other gear. I thought it looked great and was totally unique. I was intrigued and found this fantastic explanation by a Turkish fan on football shirts news:

"Turquoise means “Colour of the Turk” in french (or so they say) it is said that in medieval ages, only Turkish artists can paint ceramics in this colour. The european artists had tried so much to copy this colour but were unable to do so. A sportswriter Mehmet Demirkol first mentioned that Turkey must wear turquoise jerseys, a few months later manager Fatih Terim announced that the new away kit will include turquoise details. This jersey can be the beginning of a new era. It is planned to switch to a full turquoise shirt in a few years, and be recognized with this color like Azzuri of Italy and Orange of the Netherlands."

It would be really exciting if Turkey were to change their home shirt to a Turquoise shirt, but it's unlikely to happen. Remember when Mexico were going to change their home shirt to white? Tradition is sometimes very hard to part with. In this case, I think it would be a good thing. There are already so many other teams with red kits. I also thought the Turks' name & number font was nice and it looked appropriate.

Another Nike highlight for me were the Russian kits. Both homee & away were really nice and looked sharp on the pitch. The white Russian kit was actually my favorite kit of the whole tournament.

I had a couple of minor gripes with Nike. All their keepers looked exactly the same, and the number font they used for The Netherlands was ugly to say the least. Look for that keeper kit now on club teams all over the world in the upcoming season.

Croatia had the misfortune of not being able to wear their white and red checkered shirt in any of their four matches. It's unusual a team would go that deep in a tournament and never wear their home shirt.

All 16 teams had a sleeve patch on the left side that read "RESPECT." A nice idea, but it didn't really translate to more respect on the pitch.

A couple of nice touches in the celebration after Spain's victory in the final: Sergio Ramos and his t–shirt dedicated to former teammate Antonio Puerta who passed away on the pitch last year. Also, back–up goalkeeper Andres Palop put on a throwback Spanish goalkeeping jersey, that of Luis Maria Arconada.

Our special offer is still in effect. The first person to donate $60.00 US to our blog will get the Manchester United 07/09 jersey shipped to them. Jersey is brand–new, size XL. Read all the details here.

Why Not Make a Donation?

2008-06-05T09:47:00.004-04:00

Here, straight from the Football Kit Blog archives is the 2007–2009 Manchester United Home Shirt. I'm giving this baby up in an effort to raise some cash. Blogging is fun and all but bills still need to be paid. So, the first person to donate $60.00 U.S. to the Football Kit Blog will win this shirt. Is this a shameless attempt at raising some money? Yes. But look at it this way: You get to help a blogger and at the same time acquire the shirt of one of the greatest football clubs in the world. More details about the shirt in a minute, but first some answers to some possible questions you might have:

How do I know that this is for real?

That's a tough one. For what it's worth, this is Football Kit Blog's ebay account. You can see that we have 100% feedback as mostly a seller. I would just sell the shirt on ebay if not for the enormous hassle that has become. We have a reputation to uphold and don't plan on going anywhere. We are doing in this in an effort to raise money which in turns helps us to spend more time working on this blog. Who knows, if this is successful perhaps there can be other special offers like this one. $60.00 U.S. is not that much for a great shirt like this including shipping.

Is this offer open to participants outside of the U.S?

Absolutely. The only thing required to make a donation is a paypal account.

Do you accept any other form of donation other than paypal?

We will not accept any other form of donation. To win the shirt on offer here, your donation must be at least $60.00 U.S.

Ok, Great! How do I Donate?

You can donate clicking on the "Donate" button on the top left corner of this page. Then enter at least $60.00 in the donation amount field. Anyone is welcome to Donate any amount, but in order to win the shirt, you must donate at least $60.00 U.S.

Now onto some details about the shirt:
First of all, it is brand new. 100% authentic. Tags still on. Given to me as a gift but it is not the right size. Never worn. In Immaculate Condition.

This is the shirt of the back–to–back Premiership Champions, Manchester United FC. The shirt in the pictures is the exact shirt that will be shipped. It is made by Nike and is Size XL. All preliminary reports indicate that this will be the Red Devils' shirt for the 08/09 campaign as well. A simple shirt with some elegant embellishments. For one, the racing stripe on the back meant to denote that United are the defending Premiership Champions. On the top part of the stripe is United's "Devil" logo, while on the bottom of the stripe are the letters "MUFC".

Heaven for the Red Devils

2008-05-21T20:51:00.006-04:00

Congratulations to Manchester United for their victory in tonight's UEFA Champion's League Final. Football-wise it was a thrilling match, a very testy affair. There were many underlying dramas leading into this game and upon the start of the match a couple of other dramas were introduced. The rain and the condition of the newly installed grass field at Luzhniki Stadium were big factors in the game. The pitch tonight was a disgrace. UEFA must takes steps to make sure the fiasco that occurred today never happens again. The players were slipping all over the place and it wasn't just because of the rain. There were also many more players cramping up than usual and those lads all risked being injured on that poor excuse for a pitch. How can a stadium be a "UEFA 5 star" stadium and not have a proper natural grass pitch?

I actually thought Chelsea was the better team on the night but as we all know the penalty spot definition can be a lottery. So it's United who walk away with the trophy. Onto some of the kit analysis:

United came out in their red shirts, white shorts & socks look, I thought they might go with black socks since Chelsea usually wears white socks. Instead, Chelsea came out in an all–blue number right down to the socks. I still think they could have waited to introduce their new kit until after the final, but that being said that new Chelsea home kit is splendid. United's kit is nice too, although I think that "AIG" ad looks a bit, well, awkward. Chelsea were also sporting some new name and number font on the back of their jerseys. I tried to make out what the little logo was on the bottom of each digit, I think it was the Champions League logo. Could this be some new Champions League font? In last week's UEFA Cup final both Rangers and Zenit came out wearing the same font on the back of their jerseys with the UEFA Cup logo on the bottom. Maybe this is the direction UEFA is going in for the next season, making clubs wear standardized names & numbers in continental competitions. United were still wearing their Nike names & numbers.

According to this story, Chelsea goalie Petr Cech had a new kit designed for this final, a fluorescent orange number that he believes will trick players subconsciously to shoot right at him. It didn't seem to work too well, as Cech was only able to save 1 of United's 7 penalty shots.

Hat Tip: Football Shirts News

Chelsea FC: Tempting Fate?

2008-05-15T06:20:00.002-04:00

I am somewhat superstitious. I know football supporters are a fairly superstitious lot as well. That is why my eyebrows were raised when I caught wind of this: Chelsea FC is planning on wearing their 08/09 shirt in next week's Champions League Final against Manchester United.

Chelsea have been wearing this shirt (06/08) for the past two campaigns. Last weekend in a vital Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers Chelsea debuted their new kit which they will be wearing in the upcoming season(Chelsea ended up drawing 1–1 with Bolton). Debuting new kits during the final matches of the season has become somewhat of a tradition, especially in England. Here's my beef: Chelsea have had such a gritty campaign coming back from a lot of adversity. All along the way they did it wearing this shirt. Now, on the eve of the biggest match in Chelsea FC history they are going to wear a kit different from the one that got them there? Sounds like a bad omen to me. I had been leaning towards Chelsea winning the match in Moscow, but now I am not so sure. United will be wearing the kit they have worn all season. If I was a Chelsea supporter, I would be raising hell over this.

I would love to hear from Chelsea supporters. What do you say? Am I making too big a deal out of this? Or is there something to this?

Greatest Hits

2008-05-09T07:12:00.001-04:00

If you're new to the blog I thought I'd save you the trouble of scanning through the archives for the best content. These are my favorite posts thus far (in chronological order) :

1. An Open Letter to the Premier League

2. Is This Football or Racing?

3. Adidas Is Ruining Football

4. A Bad Gamble

5. The Poll

New Liverpool 08/09 Shirt Makes its Debut

2008-05-06T01:54:00.004-04:00

Liverpool debuted their new shirt for the 08/08 campaign in this past weekend's Premiership match against Manchester City. This kit replaces their 06/08 kit which was Liverpool's first Adidas kit in ages.
Some analysis:
The main differences between the old and the new kit are the lack of a collar and piping on the new shirt. The old kit had both. I personally like this new version of the iconic Liverpool shirt but I do have one gripe: that collar is a little weird. The way it juts out like that I think is a case of over–thinking. A simple white trim along the collar would have been so much nicer.

Btw that City kit is pretty sweet...

I *&^%@# Hate Broken Links

2008-05-03T10:13:00.003-04:00

I, like many of you hate broken links. That's why I'm so frustrated with myself for linking back to sites like yahoo sports in some recent posts. I should have known better. No more broken links here. As for those links already broken, I will try to go back and fix them when I get some time.

The Best Looking Rivalry

2008-05-01T15:30:00.004-04:00

This weekend there will be yet another edition of the Argentine Super-clasico between River Plate and Boca Juniors. This is a great time to talk about the aesthetic aspect of this rivalry, which we believe to be the best–dressed rivalry in all of world football. First off, both teams can wear their home kits when they play each other, which is critical. Second, no other rivalry has such a great combination of uniforms.

With all due respect to my beloved AC Milan, I've never though that vertically striped shirts where particularly impressive. The one striped shirt that I think is absolutely gorgeous is Argentina's national team kit. That means that the big Italian rivalries(except maybe Roma–Lazio) are not that great visually to me. Real–Barça looks pretty good. England has a few great visual rivalries, like Arsenal–Spurs and Man U.–Man City. I also like Celtic–Rangers from Scotland and PSG–Marseille from France. But the cream of the crop is definitely River–Boca. River with their distinctive white shirt with red diagonal sash. They usually wear black shorts with their home kit, but this season I have been noticing them wearing white shorts a lot. Boca has an equally distinctive kit, I know of no other club in the world that sports that blue shirt with the horizontal yellow band.

As far as club teams go, who do you think are the best dressed rivalries? I smell another poll coming on. If you vote Other, tell us in the comments what you think is the best–dressed rivalry.

Digging in the Vaults: Arsenal away kit 2002/2003

2008-04-25T09:26:00.002-04:00

This shirt was part of an all–navy away strip Arsenal wore in the 2003/2003 season. Made by Nike, this was a very innovative shirt in many ways.
This was the season Arsenal introduced their new crest. The new crest was panned by some Gooner traditionalists, but I feel that the new design is classy enough and it brought the crest into the 21st century. Actually, now that you look at the old crest vs the new, you wonder why no one had thought of doing that any sooner. Then, there was the geometric fade pattern, another controversial design element that I actually like very much. One thing I especially like about the pattern is it makes the shirt match perfectly with my pair of hyper blue Air Max Plus. The O2 logo is simple enough and it actually works well with the pattern. The astroid in the middle of the pattern is also right in the center of the O, creating a target effect. Can you picture Thierry Henry running at you in this shirt? He must have looked like a super–hero. The shirt must have brought some degree of luck, as Arsenal won the F.A. Cup in '03, beating Man. United in this strip along the way.
Finally, this shirt was part of those dual layer "cool–motion" shirts that were so problematic during the 2002 World Cup. During the normal shirt–pulling that occurs during any soccer match, the layers would rip apart, forcing the player to have to change his shirt. Then it would take the player an eternity to remove the tangled mess of a shirt to change into a new one. This happened a few times during that world cup, it was absolutely maddening. Someone dropped the ball there big–time. Fortunately, I don't have anyone tugging at my shirt when I wear it so this is not an issue for me.
As a side note, this same template was used for Leeds United's away shirt that same season.
I happen to think the dual layer issue aside, this is one of Arsenal's best–ever away kits, and it must have been somewhat popular as it was also used as the 3rd strip in the 2003/2004 campaign. It holds a special place in my collection.

Raffle Winner

2008-04-21T09:37:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Patricia W. from Michigan, who won our first ever Football Kit Blog Raffle. Patricia wins the Adidas originals Peru home shirt that we were giving away. Patricia, you should be receiving the shirt in the coming days. Thanks to everyone that entered and keep an eye out for other great promotions in the future.

Toronto FC Kit: The Best of M.L.S. in 2008

2008-04-18T10:58:00.005-04:00

Looking over the league's crop of new uniforms, what strikes me is the dullness of all the team's jerseys looking essentially the same just in different colors. All 14 M.L.S. clubs are outfitted by German sportswear giants adidas, and their famous/infamous three stripes. I personally like the stripes but I wonder if it's really necessary for adidas to put them on the sleeves of every single shirt. Some shirts would just look better without the 3 stripes.

Some other random observations:

The Red Bulls do not make sense to me. First, they go ahead and make their home shirt white. Huh? I thought it was Red Bulls, not White Bulls. Then, they make navy blue their away color, meaning they don't have a red shirt at all! I want to root for this team so badly, and I do, but c'mon. Someone get with the program over there. And tone down the size of that huge advertisement on your shirt. Don't they understand that they would sell so many more of those Angel and Altidore jerseys if that ad was just a little smaller? In fact, they should just put the "Red Bull" typeface right on the front, like a normal club. That would be so much more legit. The Clashing Bull logo is already on the crest. Which brings me to that. Why is the logo two red bulls clashing with each other? Shouldn't they be teammates? I know that's the logo on a regular can of Red Bull but couldn't they have put some effort and thought onto this? Just one bull in the crest would have been so much better. There, Red Bulls. That'll be $20,000.

The Galaxy re–branding was pretty lame. Their logo is decent, but they should have gone with navy blue instead of all–white as their home shirt. Don't give me that "Oh, it's summer and it's really hot in L.A., so white is the smart choice" b.s. Most M.L.S. games are at night and the season starts in April when it's still not that hot. Besides, during day matches where it's really hot, they could have always switched to the white kit. I just think this was a lame attempt to keep up the Beckham/Real Madrid continuity in order to sell more jerseys worldwide. Pfeh.

One place I actually miss the 3 stripes is on DC United. Adidas has been outfitting them since their inception and those 3 horizontal stripes across the chest where there forever. It's a little bizarre that adidas would remove them after all these years.

Colorado's jerseys are actually quite nice. They've got that whole Aston Villa/West Ham vibe. They would qualify as my 2nd favorite M.L.S. kit design. My favorite would have to be...
Toronto F.C. Last year's expansion team really has the league's best kit. Mainly because of the seldom used but gorgeous red and gray color scheme. I also think that the template used for the kits is one of the nicer ones adidas currently has on offer. I may be in the minority on this, but the gray away shirt is a thing of beauty too. I just wish it was paired with a black or gray short.

Note: Time is quickly running out on our first ever raffle. Don't forget to mail your entry to footballkitblog@gmail.com before 12:00 noon this coming Sunday, April 20th. Anyone that sends an email before then to the above address with the subject line "Raffle" will be entered in the drawing. Limit 3 entries per person please. The winner will be announced on Monday, April 21st. Full details here.Good luck everyone.

New Barcelona Away Shirt 2008/2009

2008-04-15T09:08:00.005-04:00

This is the time of year that images on kits for the upcoming season get leaked onto the web. We here at FKB like to keep up with the comings and goings, and today we have a leak of the 08/09 Barcelona away shirt. Now, there is always the possibility that this is a fake meant to throw off the crowd, but my hunch is it's legit and as you saw with the latest USMNT Away shirt release, we were pretty spot–on. I actually like this very much, and actually drool at the prospect of how this shirt would look if it was released a few years back, before Barça had their new agreement with UNICEF. How sweet would this shirt look without any sponsor logo? My guess is very. When compared to Barça's current away shirt, we believe this one is much better. I do like the club's current 3rd all–orange strip, which will probably be mothballed next season as they have already used it for two seasons.

Barcelona is one of the world's great super–clubs, one of their team mottos is actually "More than a Club." Along with their success on the pitch they have also achieved sartorial excellence almost every time they have taken the field. Nike has been making the club's shirt since the late 90's, and I have to say they have done a great job outfitting the Catalans. Some of my personal favorite's include this, this, this, this, and this. A couple of exceptions would be this and this. Of course I can't stress enough that all these designs that I like so much probably look a lot better to me because there is no advertising on them.

P.S. Don't forget about our first–ever raffle...

Raffle Time

2008-04-12T20:30:00.005-04:00

Today folks is the first ever Football Kit Blog raffle. I was doing some spring cleaning and I need to get rid of some stuff. In that stuff was this lovely Adidas originals Peru home shirt. It is size large. It is not brand–new, I acquired it a couple of years back and have never worn it. It is in very good condition. There are just some a few small nicks right below the red sash on the front. What better way to part with it than to raffle it off to my fellow football kit enthusiasts? The shirt is white with a red diagonal sash on both the front and back. F.P.F. crest on the right side, adidas trefoil logo on the left. "Peru 10" on the back. Adidas 3 stripes in red along both sleeves.

The 1978 World Cup was perhaps both the all–time high and all–time low for Peruvian football. High for the outstanding play of Teofilo Cubillas(who wore #10), who was tied for second–highest goal–scorer of the tournament, and also for finishing first in a group that included Scotland and the Netherlands. Low because of the allegations of Peru taking a dive in their last game against the home nation Argentina. The Peruvians lost 6–0, helping Argentina get to the final on goal differential at the expense of Brazil. I've watched that match and I have to say it does look a little suspicious.

Anyways, the raffle is open to anyone that sends an email with the subject line "Raffle" to footballkitblog@gmail.com by 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, April 20th, 2008. I'll accept up to 3 entries per person. International participants welcome. The winner will be announced on Monday, April 21st and the shirt will be shipped out shortly thereafter. Good luck to everyone.

A Tiff With Toffs

2008-04-07T19:11:00.003-04:00

I think Toffs is a great site and store for the die-hard football fan. They sell retro shirts for almost every big club you can think of, and even some very obscure ones. But one beef that I have is that their website is not up to par. The navigation on the site is tolerable, but take a look at some of these pictures. How am I supposed to decide to buy something based off of that?

Like I said, they have some great shirts on the site, but I've got to be able to get a better look at the merchandise. I probably would have bought a shirt or two from Toffs already had it not been for this issue.

What's in a Color?

2008-03-25T09:38:00.000-04:00

So according to this study, football teams clad in red are more successful. The study focused on England, and the results showed that "Red shirts give the team(s) an advantage due to deep-rooted biological response to the colour." I swear this is not the first I heard of this, I remember similar suggestions being made about 10 years ago. It can't be a coincidence that Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal are 3 of the most successful clubs in English football, no?
I actually agree with this study and have something to add. White must also be included as one of the most successful football colors. If you think about it, almost every major football league in the world has an epic club that wears either red or white. From the aforementioned England, to Brazil (Vasco and Flamengo), Spain (Real Madrid), Italy (AC Milan, Juve), France (Lyon), Germany (Bayern Munich), Argentina (River Plate), Holland (The big three all use red and white). At the very least, this merits further investigating.
That color can affect human beings psychologically is nothing new. That this would apply to the world of football is only logical.

Those Snazzy Hondurans

2008-03-23T13:10:00.000-04:00

I had to put up a picture of this brilliant kit from Honduras(It's the one with the stripes). They have been wearing it for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. They may have started wearing it earlier, but this is the first I've seen of it.
I had never been impressed by Honduras' kit, until now. This kit is absolutely gorgeous. No wonder the team was able to upset Mexico and make it to the Olympics in Beijing. The Mexicans, in their snooz-o-rama Adidas template kit never stood a chance. Note: The caption in that photo on Yahoo incorrectly identifies Mexico's opponent as Guatemala.

Football Kit Blog Book Review: True Colours by John Devlin

2008-03-20T17:19:00.000-04:00

I recently got this great book from amazon uk. It is called True Colours: Football Kits from 1980 to the Present Day, by John Devlin. It is a must have for any football kit enthusiast. The only pity here is that there are not more volumes of this masterpiece covering all the clubs from all over the world. For it's slim size, it is a very impressive work in breadth and scope. It basically details every home, away, 3rd, and 4th kits of every English Premier League side that was in the top flight in 2005-06, spanning back to 1980. Along with the artwork for each kit there is a brief description of who made the kit, who the shirt sponsor was, a brief story about the shirt, and in what important matches it was worn in and by whom. Going through the pages you really get an understanding for trends in design, fabric, and colors that have taken place over the last few decades. Also, I realized that the Golden Age of Football shirt design was the late 80's/early 90's. There were just so many innovations that took place back then that we take for granted today. There are some really great shirts in here, like Arsenal's "bruised banana" shirt (I couldn't tell you why, but I love that shirt) as well as Manchester United's groundbreaking "Newton Heath" shirt. There are some real disasters here too like Chelsea's tangerine nightmare and this vomit-inducing number from Spurs.

If you are into this kind of stuff, you should not go without this book. I am hooked and just put in my order for Volume 2.

New and Improved

2008-03-15T07:06:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the new and improved Football Kit Blog. I decided to customize the layout a bit, and I must say, it was about time. I liked the blogger template I was working with, so I just enhanced it a bit with a spiffy new header and a custom background. Hope you like. I thought now would be a good opportunity to re-introduce the blog.

Why I Started this blog:

I got a lot of my inspiration from Paul Lukas' fabulous uniwatch column, which I discovered about 10 years ago. I used to look for it in the Village Voice every week. It was one of the only reasons to pick up the Voice along with Savage Love. Anyways, when Paul moved his column to espn and eventually to uniwatch blog, I went along and have practically read every column/post since. When I first discovered it, I was surprised to learn that there were other people who were obsessed with sports uniforms as I was. I still greatly enjoy uniwatch to this day, but it tends to focus on the major American sports and football/soccer sort of takes a back seat. Well, football/soccer is my favorite sport, and I happen to think that the football kit is the most beautiful uniform in all of sports. See this.

That lead me to here. The Football Kit Blog. My take on football kits past, present, and future. I will definitely not be anywhere near as proficient and meticulous as uniwatch is, and I can never hope to match Mr. Lukas' talent for writing, but I will be throwing my two cents in from time to time. I'm interested to hear from people all over the world, especially from the supporters of the teams I may write about. I want to know what the local fans think.

While you're here why not leave a small donation. Any donation is greatly appreciated and will go to improving and maintaining the blog. And be sure to stay tuned to this space for exciting announcements in the future.

U.S.A. (United States of Anticipation)

2008-03-13T19:54:00.000-04:00

This is a photo I found floating around a discussion board, purporting to be the new USMNT Away shirt. The official release of the shirt is scheduled for mid-April. So, could this be a Photoshop fake? Absolutely, especially considering that I know I saw Clint Dempsey in that same pose when the new Home Shirt was released a couple of months ago. But a little rank speculation never hurt, and I actually think this is a classy shirt. Much better than the last USMNT away shirt, which was great in concept, but faulty in execution. Up close the shirt had a weird cut to it, the collar was freakishly big and puffy, and the crest was also way too big. It was more like a shield.

Hat Tip: Big Soccer.

A Golden Touch

2008-03-08T21:25:00.000-05:00

Here is Inter Milan's new gold-trimmed kit, which was debuted tonight in a Serie A match against Reggina. The gold trim will be employed on Inter's kit for one month to commemorate the club's centenary. While I like this touch very much, my only gripe is that they should have rolled this kit out for the whole season so the die-hard fans wouldn't be compelled to buy both the white-trimmed and gold-trimmed home shirt.

BTW, in this post we mentioned that Inter Milan's current centenary shirt would look a lot different with a full-sized sponsor logo. Well I went ahead and did a mock-up of what it would look like, and it pretty much vindicates Inter's move to make the Pirelli logo smaller.

A Tip of the Cap

2008-03-04T21:52:00.000-05:00

A tip of the cap to Arsenal, who beat my beloved AC Milan 2–0 tonight at the San Siro in the 2nd leg of their Champions League round of 16 match. Arsene Wenger's side won the pulse–pounding tie on aggregate 2–0. I have to admit that Arsenal was the better side over the tie, and some of Milan's players looked very long in the tooth by the end of the match. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling match. Barcelona now has to be the favorite to win this year's competition.
On a kit related note, Arsenal's white away duds are nice. I know there is a bit of an uproar in Goonerland about them (cuz they look like Spurs with red shorts), but I had a chance to see this shirt at Niketown. It has an inscription of sorts, something about Herbert Chapman. I always like it when manufacturers add little touches like that to the shirt.

And the Jersey Goes to...

2008-03-03T14:48:00.000-05:00

It's time for footballkitblog's 2nd annual Jersey awards. Here we honor what I believe to be the best kits of the past season. To be eligible for a Jersey, kits have to have been released for the 2007/2008 season. There are 4 categories, best home kit, best away kit, best keeper kit, and best national team kit(home or away). So without further adieu, here are the winners:

1. Best Home Kit: This was a tough decision, as most of the big clubs don't ever change their home kits around that much. The winner here is Manchester City FC, whose light blue shirt and white shorts has always been a classy kit. This year their shirt was made by Le Coq Sportif, and I have to say they did quite a nice job. I like the white pinstripes very much. I also dig the Le Coq logo being on the shoulder. The Thomas Cook advert is minimal. Nothing groundbreaking in the kit, just an overall very solid design.

2. Best Away Kit: As an AC Milan supporter it pains me to say this, but the winner is Inter Milan for their "Ambrosiana" centenary kit. This kit is a tribute to the early days of the club, and to the flag of the city of Milan. The simplicity of the design and the contrast between the white shirt and the red cross is what appeals to me here. I also love the fact that they minimized the Pirelli sponsor logo on the shirt. This would have been a completely different shirt with a full–sized sponsor logo. I especially like this kit when it is worn with black shorts. All the controversy aside, this is a splendid kit. Being a Milan supporter, I vowed never to purchase an Inter shirt, but I had to renege on that vow this one time. I'm sure some of my fellow rossoneri supporters would not be too happy about that, but oh well.

3. Best Keeper Kit: I come from the Jorge Campos/Peter Schmeichel school of keeper kit design(OK, maybe Campos was a bit much). I believe the keeper kit is the one kit on the field that can afford to be colorful and loud. A lot of recent goalkeeper kits have gone for the understated look, with Nike, Adidas, etc putting out simple templates in different colors. With all that being said, the winner in this category is Club America and this Aztec–inspired number. Sure, it's loud and I would never ever wear it outside, and that "Bimbo" advert is atrocious. But I very much like this design for a keeper and I love that America's keeper Memo Ochoa helped design the shirt.

4. Best National Team Kit (Home or Away): This was also a tough decision as there were several impressive national team designs released this past season. Some that come to mind are Holland(away), Scotland(away), Italy(home), Germany(home) and Japan(home). There can only be one winner, however, and this year the winner is Russia(away). This kit is simply beautiful. The Russian flag proudly adorns the chest, and the white collar provides a sharp contrast to the red of the shirt. If I didn't still hold on to remnants of the cold war mentality, I would definitely pick one of these up.

So there you have it, our picks for best kits of the past season. Feel free to let us know what you have done differently.

The Poll

2008-02-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

Looks like Brazil has taken a clear lead in our poll about the best national team kit. It's too bad there can only be five choices. Here's why I included the ones I did:

1. Argentina – An iconic shirt. The shirt of Maradona. For an Argentinian player, wearing the shirt of Argentina is the highest honor attainable. This is also the case all over the world of course, but for the Argentinian the feeling is more intense. On an aesthetic level, the albiceleste shirt is quite beautiful, and the black shorts provide that dynamic contrast. I prefer the shirt when it is not mucked up by those black sleeve stripes, but I have a feeling those will be staying for a while. A splendid kit.

2. Brazil – The kit of the beautiful game. Bright and colorful, Brazil's uniform symbolizes creativity and a joy for the game that is unparalleled. There are a total of four colors represented on the kit(yellow, blue, green, white) coinciding with the colors on the Brazilian flag.

3. Italy – The kit of catenaccio. Perhaps the most feared of all kits, opponents know when facing the Azzuri(especially in important matches), it will be a very difficult match. Curiously, the blue in the shirt does not appear in the Italian flag, they are one of the few national sides that does this. According to footnote #1 here, Italy has been wearing blue shirts since their third ever international match as a tribute to the Royal House of Italy, whose color is also blue. The Italians have always kept their kit very simple and they were one of the last national sides to put the manufacturer's logo on the shirt. They had no logos on the shirt as late as World Cup '98. You gotta love that.

4. Spain – While Spain has not had a lot of success on the pitch, at least they have looked quite good failing. The red and yellow shirt along with the blue shorts is a great combination. I personally prefer when they use the more royal blue short as a opposed to a navy blue short.

5. Other – Of course we had to have this option to encompass all the other great national team shirts. Some of the best of the rest:

England – especially when they use red as the color for the name and numbers.

Holland – that orange shirt is just so unique, so recognizable.

Scotland – I always liked the dark blue shirts of the scots(I particularly like this version of the kit). As a kid, I found it interesting that when Scotland would play, the referee would wear a different color than black for his kit. Of course, that is an obsolete idea by now.

What do you think? Am I missing anything?

Cafu's Mistake

2008-02-18T21:19:00.000-05:00

There was a funny development in the Italian Serie A match between my beloved AC Milan and Parma this past Saturday. I was watching the match live, and I noticed that AC Milan's Brazillian right–back Cafu was wearing the wrong color socks. Most of you know that along with their famous red–and–black striped shirt, Milan interchange between black or white socks and shorts. The traditional Milan kit is made up of the red/black striped shirt, white shorts, and black socks. They change it around on occasion depending on the kit of the other team. Against Parma on Saturday the team came out in white shorts and socks, except for Cafu of course. The picture above is from the pre-match introduction, and Cafu didn't change his socks until a corner kick stoppage in about the 10th minute. Can it really be that no one noticed in the pre–match warm–up? Or had his white socks simply gone missing for a while? It's hard to believe the latter, since a team like Milan surely has dozens of extra socks on hand. Either way, a player of Cafu's reputation gets a pass from footballkitblog on this faux pas.

A Fitting Tribute

2008-02-11T14:13:00.000-05:00

In yesterday's FA Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City, both teams paid tribute to the victims of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster by wearing kits from that era complete with no sponsors. I wasn't sure how this was going to look on the pitch, but the results that you can see in these pictures were simply breathtaking, especially for Manchester United.

The Crusaders of Milan?

2007-12-13T10:05:00.000-05:00

I don't really know what to say about this story. Apparently a lawyer in Turkey has decided to sue Italian giants Inter Milan for "offending Muslim sensibilities" with their current centenary shirt. The lawyer argues that the red cross on the shirt is a symbol of the Crusades and the "bloody days of the past." Never mind that a red cross on a white background has been the city of Milan's symbol for hundreds of years. I wonder also what that lawyer would think of this or this. I just hope that this story doesn't blow out of proportion and we have some crazy s*** happen like what happened with those cartoons.

How to Buy and Care for a Football/Soccer Shirt

2007-12-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

I am not only a connoisseur/admirer of football shirts, I am also a bit of a collector and a wearer of them. Over the years I have had a lot of experience with these shirts and how to care for them. There are some small, easy steps you can take to assure the longevity of your shirts. They are, after all, quite expensive nowadays, quite delicate, and I have never been one to buy my favorite club's shirt with every new edition that comes out. One caveat: here I am talking about shirts that where made post 1987. I really can't tell you much about shirts that where made before then, because as I understand the history of football shirts, different fabrics where being used before then. Furthermore, my attorneys have advised me to add this disclaimer: any information in this post is for entertainment purposes only. The footballkitblog is not responsible for any damage that may be done to your shirts from following this advice. So without further delay, here is a look into my treasure trove of knowledge:

1. You need to start taking care of your shirt before you even take it out of the store. I've been to the club shops of a couple of big clubs, including AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Real Mallorca, Paris St. Germain, Marseille, and Ajax Amsterdam. I've also gone to a lot of other sports stores throughout Europe. These shops are an absolute dream for someone like me who is from the States and digs football. Aside from having all the gear they can also customize your shirt with any name/number you choose, and they do it right in front of you. Here's where you have to be careful. If you choose to buy a shirt and then have it printed, you have to make sure that it does not get folded too quickly afterward. The heat press that puts the name & number on the shirt makes the material they are made of very soft and malleable. If you fold the shirt while the numbers are too hot and let it cool folded, the name and numbers will always have big creases in them which you will never be able to do away with. It will even affect the way the shirt hangs on your back. The workers at these stores (if they are knowledgeable) will tell you that about 5 minutes is enough, but I say give it at least 10–15 minutes. I know you don't want to look like a jerk holding up your shirt in the middle of the store for 15 minutes, but this is really critical. If you can, try to find a place to lay the shirt on its front for that amount of time. If you are going to be walking around with the shirt for an extended period of time, try to fold it so that the number is not folded.

The few times that I've ordered printed shirts on the web, I haven't had any trouble with the numbers being creased. I suppose it all depends what online store you use.

2. This one may sound obvious, but don't get your shirt too dirty. These shirts can get discolored and damaged very easily, and you will enjoy them longer the less that happens. Don't smoke with one on if you can avoid it. Aside from the smell, one tiny cinder can make a hole in a football shirt a lot faster than on a cotton shirt. If you go to the movies and order some popcorn, take the shirt off and fold it, and put it underneath or behind you (for the sake of your fellow moviegoers, don't do this unless you have an undershirt). Popcorn is greasy and in a dark theatre kernels can easily slip out of your hand onto the shirt. Presto–you now have a permanent grease stain. These grease stains seem to be a lot more visible for some reason on football shirts.

3. How you launder your shirt is the single most important thing you can do to maintain the long life of your shirt. No matter what the color, ALWAYS wash your shirts in cold water, and if you can, use the washing machine's delicate setting (not absolutely necessary). Hand washing is even better, but I know that if you are on the web, then you probably have access to a washing machine. Try to use liquid detergent. Powdered detergent leaves a residue sometimes. For the love of God, NEVER, NEVER use any type of fabric softener when washing your football shirts. Fabric softener makes them permanently wrinkled. No matter what you do, you will never really be able to fix it. Also, NEVER, EVER put your football shirts in a dryer. For best results, you have to take the shirt out of the wash IMMEDIATELY after the machine's washing cycle has stopped. If you let the shirt sit in the wash for a while, or if you machine–dry it, it will also become permanently wrinkled (although not as bad as if you use softener). After taking the shirt out of the wash, dry it completely on a hanger or by laying it flat on something before folding it. Don't iron your shirts. If you want to try it, use a cold iron, but I have found that this is pretty useless.

4. Don't wear a back–pack/ruksack on top of you football shirt. The constant rubbing of the shirt in between your back and the sack is abrasive on these delicate shirts. This causes those tiny little bubbles that will appear on football shirts over time. Also, try to avoid wearing anything with velcro© as it sometimes catches on the shirt and causes ugly snags.

5. Lastly, don't buy football shirts on ebay unless you are prepared for the shirt to be a fake. My experience has been that 90% of football shirts (especially recent releases) sold on ebay are fakes, no matter where the seller is from. If you are dead–set on buying one there, make sure the seller tells you it is 100% authentic. Ask questions and be specific. For example, "Are you absolutely sure that this shirt is 100% authentic AC Milan Adidas replica?" Also, try to get the seller to guarantee your right to return the shirt if you think it's a fake. Fakes are getting so good nowadays right down to the tags, but there are always telltale signs. Mostly though, you can't tell a good fake from a real shirt unless you are comparing them side by side.

So there it is. I know this guide would have been useful to me when I first started buying football shirts 20 years ago. That's what the web is all about right, the sharing of information. Enjoy and good luck with your shirts.

A Bad Gamble

2007-11-29T02:28:00.001-05:00

I'm disturbed by a recent trend that's been occurring in football, mostly in Europe. That is the trend of gambling websites sponsoring teams on their shirts. Some prime examples have been Sevilla, Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, and my beloved AC Milan (Werder has since switched to Citibank as its sponsor). While I personally don't have anything against gambling per se, I believe it is a mistake for sports leagues and clubs to align themselves so closely and overtly to big-time gambling interests.

I come from the U.S. where gambling on sports is illegal in most places but there is never a problem if you want to place any type of bet. I will admit our sports leagues take a very hypocritical stance on gambling. They try to act like they are against it while encouraging and even catering to it. But I almost think that is the best approach. When you so closely embrace gambling on sports by letting gambling businesses advertise with you, you are essentially endorsing it. And if it is legal as it appears to be in Europe, then logically those folks that might have been discouraged by the illegality of it(yes, there are actually people like that) will now not have that concern. Gambling on sports will become exponentially more rampant. The main problems with that are 1. that the unfortunate truth is gambling is a serious problem for a lot of people that ends up ruining a lot of lives, and 2. gambling has called into question the integrity of many sports throughout the world at different times throughout history. Football may be gambling's biggest victim. And no club has been involved in more scandal than AC Milan, who had to endure a match fixing scandal in 79/80's as well as in 2006/07. Match fixing happens because of gambling. So why the club would now have bwin as their sponsor is just baffling to me. Milan along with Real Madrid are supposed to be two of the classiest operations in world football, yet are accepting advertising on their sacred shirts from an industry that at best is a human vice and at worst undermines the integrity of the game. It leaves me scratching my head.

I guess this is something that is here to stay, but I just wanted to put my two cents in. I want to keep the social commentary to a minimum here, but at the same time this issue cuts to the heart of the games we love so much. Hopefully this trend won't become too wide spread.

You Could Set Your Calendar to This...

2007-11-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

It is that time in the football kit cycle, when just before a major competition (in this case, Euro 2008), national sides introduce their new kits that they will wear for the next couple of years. There have been a whole slew of new national team shirts that have been released over the past few weeks. Many of them debuted during the last round of Euro qualifiers. Here are some of the highlights:

Adidas released new shirts for Germany and France, and I have to say both of them are quite nice. Looks like someone at Adidas was listening when we told them to ditch the boring templates. I especially like how the main design accents on the shirts reflect the respective cultures. The German design is rigid, with a lot of straight lines and seems to evoke the concept of moving forward together. Meanwhile, the French design is more artsy and the design seems to be splitting off in different directions. Sounds like France to me. Adidas also released a new shirt for Argentina, which is pretty basic and classic. Argentina almost always has a boss shirt.

Puma also released a bunch of new away shirts, for Austria, Czech, and others. Sad to see that Puma have adopted the former strategy of their German brethren Adidas with that template. It's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. One exception is Italy's new away shirt, which I dig, except for that whacked–out font(you can't really tell from the photo, but trust me, it sucks–especially the lettering).

Nike also released some shirts, notably Brazil's new home and Holland's new away. Brazil's new shirt doesn't really do anything for me, but that new Holland away is really nice. It was always going to be tough to duplicate the success of Holland's previous away shirt, which was absolutely gorgeous. But Nike have done a pretty good job here.

All in all, it is a pretty successful period of kit releases as there was nothing absolutely horrible released, and we are heartened by Adidas' apparent ditching of the templates. Bravo.

footballkitblogupdate: looks like despite coach Hugo Sanchez's rantings about changing Mexico's home shirt from green to white, el tri will still be decked in green most of the time. They just released the new home shirt, and it is green. I wonder what that will do to Hugo's ego.

Blacked Out

2007-10-03T10:40:00.000-04:00

I was looking at this image of last night's Champions League match between Glasgow Rangers and Olympique Lyon in Lyon when I noticed that Rangers usual "Carling" advertisement had been blacked out. I was very curious about this but I was too tired and lazy to look into it. Well, thanks to the fantastic uniwatch blog I now know why this was done. It turns out that advertising for alcohol on football shirts is banned in France, so that's why Rangers had to black out Carling, which I believe is a beer. Ahh, the French.
If you ask me, it would have looked better just to leave the logo off completely for this match instead of having a big black rectangle on the front of your shirt.

Someone Should Get Fired For This

2007-09-22T18:17:00.000-04:00

Very interesting and bush league development in a French Ligue 1 clash between Marseille and Auxerre last night. Apparently the change strip that Marseille brought with them(they were away) was too similar to Auxerre's home design. So match officilas ruled that Marseille had to wear Auxerre's away top. What a complete fiasco if you ask me. More pictures here and here.

Cuauhtémoc en Blanco

2007-09-22T03:59:00.000-04:00

So according to this article the Mexican national team is going to switch their home jersey from green to white. The change is being made by Mexican coach/legend Hugo Sanchez, who says that the green shirts blend in too well with the pitch and therefore the players cannot pick each other out as well. In fact, Sanchez is going to do away with the green shirts altogether and introduce an all-red kit as the away. This is the first time I can think of that an established national team is going to change the primary color of their home shirt. Mexico has been using green shirts forever, so this is really a bold move. On a purely aesthetic level, I believe the change is great because an all-white kit will always look better than a green one. This is yet another sign that Mexico is an up and coming nation among the soccer powers.

Different Day, Different Kit

2007-09-04T01:00:00.000-04:00

It's common nowadays for clubs to have a 3rd kit. The 3rd kit is a kit that is used when neither the home or away are used. Some teams even have a 4th kit. But what is going on at Sevilla FC has to be unprecedented.

Last week we showed you Sevilla's new home, away, and 3rd kits for the 06/07 season. All well and dandy but on Friday I watched Sevilla play my beloved AC Milan in the European Super Cup. Sevilla wore a kit that is none of those previous kits. It's similar to the home in that it has all-white shirt and shorts, but other design elements are completely different.OK so that is the 4th kit. Then on the following Monday, Sevilla wore this against AEK Athens in the Champions League. So if you are keeping score at home, that is at least 5 different kits they will wear this season. Who knows, maybe they will wear yet another kit in their next match.

Actually, Maybe they will. After a little digging around I discovered that these two shirts are what Sevilla calls their "previa Champions" kits, meaning pre-Champions. I guess they are only going to be worn during the qualifying round of the Champions League, but who knows. What is for sure is that makes a total of 6 kits.

The kit they wore in the Super Cup was a one-off special edition for that event. It just shows you the difference in pedigree between Milan and Sevilla that Sevilla would get a special kit made just for the occasion. I could understand if there was a conflict between Milan' shirts and all of Sevilla's kits, but that is not the case here. It's almost as if Sevilla is celebrating just being there while Milan is there to take care of business. This one-off kit stuff is not new for Sevilla, they did the same thing for last year's UEFA Cup final. It's all a bit much for me.

That being said, the Super Cup kit is my favorite of the lot, with the all-black number running a close second. In fact, all the designs are pretty good except for the awful, vomit-inducing fuischia outfit. I've said it before pink is not necessarily bad, but that shade of pink belongs nowhere on any sporting field.

2007-09-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

Very Nice Tribute in Today's European Super Cup final between AC Mian and Sevilla FC. All the players on both teams wore the name "PUERTA" in honor of Sevilla's Antonio Puerta, who passed away this week after collapsing on the pitch. Milan won the match 3-1.

Adidas Is Ruining Football

2007-08-31T16:44:00.001-04:00

Adidas has been ruining the game from an aesthetic point of view. I know they have been a pioneer in football kit design for many years, but recently they have been coming out with some awful designs. Then they exacerbate the problem by using these crappy designs as templates that they use for many different teams around the world. Let's be honest a lot of these shirts look like training shirts. I mean it's friggin' ridiculous. They are taking all these football federations and clubs for granted. I mean some kid at Parson's could come up with something better than this crap. Say what you want about Nike, they were innovative this past world cup by ditching the templates and giving each team their own identity. The other major kit manufacturer is using templates. Templates, templates, templates. It's like if you are an Adidas-supplied team, you're getting one of 3 templates and maybe if you're lucky they'll embellish it a little bit. If you agree with me, leave a comment and hopefully someone at Adidas will read this and get the message. You are dressing some of the greatest teams in all of sport. Give them their own individuality. And not every single shirt has to have those damn stripes running down the sleeves. And if you do have to put the stripes on there, they don't always have to be contrasting. I've seen regular Adidas gear where the stripes are not contrasting and that looks pretty cool. Sometimes the best type of branding and marketing can be subtle.

2007/2008 kits: An assessment

2007-08-25T20:39:00.001-04:00

Now is the time of the year that clubs all over Europe release their new shirts for the upcoming season. I'm sure many of the die-hard football kit enthusiasts have already seen some of the designs that have popped up on the web and are slowly being introduced on the pitch. There have been some interesting designs, and I think the time is right for a report:

Some of the Worst - Let's start with the bad news. I think that Man. United's new home shirt is classy enough, but last year's shirt was nice and simple too, in fact, very similar to the new design. So why fleece your supporters so disgracefully by changing kits after just one season? It's just so unnecessary and anyone who buys both of those shirts is a sucker. Tottenham Hotspur released some really smart designs, but they should have kept their gorgeous brown shirt(trust me they looked better in action) , which was only in use for one season. Not that Arsenal's new designs aren't nice, it's just that they are a little boring for a team that has had some great kits. At least all of these teams have not fallen victim to those awful templates that are the bane of football shirt design. It's depressing how many teams and goalkeepers have that squiggly thing on their shirts.

Barça's new away shirt is pretty bad. The greens used are ugly, which is the main problem with the shirt. Sevilla keeps insisting on that putrid fuschia outfit(although that white shirt with the red slash looks pretty sharp). Borussia Dortmund's new home shirt looks OK in pictures, but I'm sure in on the pitch they will make the players look like giant bumblebees, not a good thing.

However the most disappointing development is over at my beloved AC Milan. that home shirt is really bad. It just breaks my heart because Milan haven't had a decent home shirt for years now. The new number font is bad too. A club as great as Milan doesn't have to resort to that futuristic B.S. Mr. Berlusconi needs to fire someone for this fiasco.

On a funny aside, this disgusting thing reminds me of the Islanders (of the National Hockey League) "Fishstick Guy" design in hockey.

The Best - While adidas continues to try to make all clubs around the world look the same, there are some good designs that stand out, mostly from other manufacturers. Inter's new centenary shirt is really nice. Parma also looks good in the same design. I also like the new Manchester City designs. Real Madrid kept it simple as always. while Chelsea took a bold step in color. Very loud yes, but I'm not sure I don't like it. And boy do those new Premier League numbers look snazzy. And with the way the match up with the font of the Premier League wordmark means teams in England just took a major step up sartorially. All in all not a groundbreaking year for kit design but things can always be worse I suppose.

football kit blog Update: Khalid Boulharouz was loaned away from Chelsea, which means we no longer have to put up with the uncomfortable sight of seeing a defender wearing number 9. Now if only William Gallas would be so kind as to oblige.

David Beckham Will Wear 23 at LA Galaxy

2007-07-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

There's been no official announcement yet, but it looks like David Beckham will wear #23 on the LA Galaxy. I was perusing through their team shop and noticed that they are already selling a t-shirt with "BECKHAM 23" on it. I must say that the new LA kits are classy and I'm glad that adidas didn't use that horrible squiggly template.

Digging in the Vaults: Atletic Bilbao Centenary Shirt

2007-06-15T17:42:00.001-04:00

This little number is the Athletic Bilbao centenary shirt from 1998. I really like this shirt, I know it's really loud, but I don't really care. Bilbao's Basque-only policy is pretty admirable and they are one of only 3 clubs in Spanish football (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona) that have never been relegated (that is in jeopardy at the moment). Perhaps best of all, they are one of a few clubs that don't wear any ads on their jersey. I hope they stay in the Primera Liga so that the no-ads policy can continue. I'm sure that if the club loses the revenue of not being in the top flight, they might compensate by getting a sponsor for their shirt.

The jersey is made by Kappa, whose male/female logo is pretty cool. Their logo is sewn on the right chest as well as running up and down the sleeves. The shirt is also a departure from the usual Bilbao home shirt, which has red and white vertical stripes. There is a huge dragon-like logo on the front of the shirt, and the back looks like the the back of the dragon if you look at it from the right angle. On the back of the shirt is the name and number of Bilbao stalwart Joseba Etxeberria. To top it off there's a special logo commemorating the centenary on the collar placket. This article says that Bilbao also had a second Centenary shirt in 2004, which looked like this. Not sure how they can have two centenaries but I have to say that second one is pretty hideous.

Catalan Controversy

2007-06-10T20:28:00.001-04:00

There was an interesting football kit related incident in last week's international friendly between Spain and Latvia. It seems that two players on Spain's team, Xavi and Carles Puyol, turned the top of their socks inside to hide the trim which is the color of the Spanish national flag. Xavi (#8) and Puyol (#5) are both from Catalonia, which is fiercely proud of being an "Autonomous community" within Spain. In this article, Xavi says that the suggestion that he and Puyol did this deliberately as a show of Catalan unity is to start a "ridiculous and malicious debate(s)." The photo from the match above shows that this has to be more than a coincidence. I personally dig it, and if Catalonia really is autonomous , UEFA should let their national team, which already plays friendlies, to play full internationals. It would be interesting to see how an all-Catalan team would do on the international scene.

This is Rumored to Be...

2007-05-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

...The much-anticipated new LA Galaxy shirts. The image circulating on the web seems to be legit enough, if not it's a very good fake. The logo is another matter entirely as it does look somewhat amateurish. So who knows, we will just have to wait and see how this plays out. I wonder if Becks has any imput?

Preview of Premiership's New Names & Numbers

2007-04-18T02:09:00.000-04:00

It looks like England's Premier League will launch their new name & number system on May 15th. I found this neat graphic illustrating the change, which I definitely think is a huge step forward. The new numbers are a lot more sleek than the previous version. The change also addresses one big problem with the old font, which was that the 1 and the 7 looked very similar. Kudos to England, I think these numbers look so good, I'm willing to overlook for the time being that England doesn't have an "open" shirt number policy. I'm strongly in favor of teams being able to choose their own fonts, but I also believe there needs to be some regulations and oversight so the disaster that Sevilla FC has been this season can be avoided at all costs.

Ajax Switch Things Up

2007-04-04T21:42:00.000-04:00

On April 1st Ajax Amsterdam in a match against Heracles wore a special one-off kit. I noticed it on Tuesday when I was watching eredivisie highlights on Fox Soccer Channel. The kit is identical to the one they usually wear in the Dutch league save for the advertising on the shirt. For God knows how long Ajax have been sponsored by Dutch bank ABN-AMRO. In fact the only other sponsor I could think of Ajax having was TDK way back.

I couldn't make out what the advertising said on the highlights so I did a little digging and found out it was a one-off shirt to introduce ABN-AMRO's new mortgage branch Florius. The whole story can be found here. Also mentioned in that piece is that Ajax have done this before in 2003, which I didn't know about. There's not much to say about the change since it's not really a major one. The most important thing is that they preserved the tradition of aligning the lettering on the Ajax shirt vertically. Tradition is good.

Another interesting note from Holland is that Feyenoord has introduced their new kits for the 2007/08 season. Not much of a change on the home, but the new away kit is quite new and fresh.

MLS Gets With The Program

2007-03-26T22:28:00.000-04:00

On Friday, Real Salt Lake (RSL) became the first MLS club to announce a front-of the-shirt sponsor (something called Xango). Technically, the New York Red Bulls were the first to do this last season, but their case is a little different because the entire team was purchased by the company that owns Red Bull and re-named ( A quick aside on Red Bulls, they need to tone down the size of that ad, that thing is way too big). RSL was followed by LA Galaxy and today by Toronto FC, who released their first ever kit sponsored by BMO Bank. I'm sure there are soccer fans here in the States and Canada that are up in arms about this development. We (and when I say we I mean me) here at footballkitblog hold a different, more pragmatic view. I believe this is a positive development for American soccer on its road to legitimacy.

Since its inception in 1996, MLS clubs have worn advertising on the back of the jersey, with the team name usually on the front. Of course, the rest of the football/soccer world wears ads on the front of the jersey among other places. This difference along with some others (the "breakaway" tie-breakers, the loud colors and cartoonish nature of most of the jerseys and logos, the huge, empty stadiums) differentiated the American game, and frankly, we were a laughingstock. Recently MLS has made strides towards putting out a better product, and putting ads on the front of the shirts is another step in the right direction. The advertising on the shirt boat has sailed, kids. Now our clubs will look like real football teams.

As far as the new Toronto shirt is concerned, I think the colors are pretty nice and the ad for BMO is done tastefully enough, and at least adidas used the least unattractive or their latest crappy templates. More on how adidas is destroying the game soon to come. I'm curious to see what LA Galaxy is going to do, they are due to release a complete re-design of their look soon. I hear that either black or navy blue will be used as one of the team colors. Anything is better than the puke-a-thon they've been wearing.

New U.S. 3rd Jersey Makes Its Debut

2007-03-26T00:02:00.000-04:00

The new United States 3rd made its debut today in an international friendly against Ecuador. The jesey was paired with a blue short. I wonder why they didn't use the white short which I think would have looked much better. Also, Ecuador wore blue shorts, so the U.S. had a ready made excuse to wear the white shorts. I guess they intend on using the white shorts as change shorts, which is unfortunate.

The jersey proved to be lucky today as the U.S. won 3-1 on the strength of a hat-trick by Landon Donovan.

I personally think the jersey looks pretty good. It's true the other jerseys the U.S. is currently using are probably nicer, but this jersey is a nice change of pace. And really, it could be a lot worse. Just look at the horror that Ecuador was wearing.

U.S. Soccer Inroduces New 3rd Jersey

2007-03-21T20:09:00.000-04:00

The United States national team has released a new 3rd jersey, a royal blue affair with thin white pinstripes. I don't hate the design, but I'm not sure yet if I like it. I have to soak it in a little and see how it actually looks on the pitch. This jersey will make its debut this March 27th when the U.S. takes on Ecuador in a friendly. A few observations:
I like the fact that a royal blue shirt has been re-introduced. The U.S. team has been wearing white home shirts and navy blue away shirts for some time but in the 80's I think the home shirt was royal blue. So the shirt is a throwback of sorts. I mention the 80's also because the pinstripes are definitely an 80's thing.

It seems the shirt will be paired with both royal blue or white shorts and royal blue socks. I think the kit will look much better with the white shorts.

The 3rd jersey is a rarity for national teams. I know I've seen a few national sides wear them, Wales being one other example.

One interesting note from the website: the shirt features "raised nodes on the underside that lift the shirt away from the players' bodies to keep their skin drier and reduce shirt cling." Now, I don't want to come off as a Nike marketing guy but that is pretty badass. That's some future-is-here type of stuff.

More on this story to come...

Is this Football or Racing?

2007-03-16T00:10:00.000-04:00

It's disturbing to me when I see certain football clubs go out of control with the advertising on the shirt. Take a look at this mess. Or this. That's a complete bastardization of the kit. While I know these uniforms are not sacred things (well, except maybe a one or two), they are the closest things the fans have to a connection with their favorite club and therfore should be treated with a little respect and reverence.

I've noticed some leagues are worse than others in terms of how many ads they'll allow on the shirt. The French league seems to be unfortunately liberal. I have to give the British credit, I don't think they would ever allow such a thing. There are some scattered holdouts throughout the world that don't have any ads on the shirt. Barcelona caved recently, although it was for a very good cause so you can't really be mad at that. I can think of Vasco Da Gama & Roma off the top of my head that don't have any ads at the moment. I don't mind the ads so much, especially when they don't take up a lot of space on the shirt. There needs to be a modicum of decorum.

Before the Advent of Squad Numbers

2007-03-13T16:56:00.001-04:00

Many of you know that in the old days, football teams didn't use the squad numbering system that is in use now. For those of us that did know, bear with me on this.

In the old days (probably around pre-1993), football clubs would name a starting eleven, then assign the numbers 1-11 to those eleven players. Then the substitutes would get assigned the numbers 12-16. As an example, this was Milan's staring eleven on Wednesday, March 7 2007 against Glasgow Celtic in the Champions League:

1 Dida

25 Daniele Bonera

3 Paolo Maldini

44 Massimo Oddo

23 Massimo Ambrosini

8 Gennaro Gattuso

22 Kaka

18 Marek Jankulovski

21 Andrea Pirlo

10 Clarence Seedorf

9 Filippo Inzaghi

Milan's lineup would have looked something like this in the old days:

1 Dida

2 Daniele Bonera

3 Paolo Maldini

4 Massimo Oddo

5 Massimo Ambrosini

8 Gennaro Gattuso

10 Kaka

6 Marek Jankulovski

7 Andrea Pirlo

11 Clarence Seedorf

9 Filippo Inzaghi

Certain star players would always remain the same number, but other less established players would get assigned different numbers throughout the season. Generally, the goalkeeper would be number 1, the defenders would get 2 through 5, midfielders 6, 8, & 10, and attackers 7, 9, & 11.

The beginning of the end of the "1 through 11" system was the World Cup and other international competitions, where players were assigned a number for the whole "finals" tournament. Finally sometime in the 90's all the leagues switched to the fixed squad number system. While I have no major problem with the current system, I kind of miss the old days of looking in the match summary and seeing which players got what numbers. For Milan I remember seeing Van Basten mostly wear 9 but he also came off the bench wearing 16. I also don't like how some players are choosing to stand out by wearing high numbers. Case in point Ronaldo with Milan, and Francesco Coco(No pictures available, but he wears #77 or 76). Those numbers just don't look right on a soccer jersey. Keep the shirt numbers low, fellas. Also, clubs are starting to retire numbers, leaving less and less single digits and low numbers available. I think that is ridiculous. We never used to retire numbers in football, why are we starting now? What, are going to start going back and retiring numbers retroactively? Should Santos now retire Pele's 10, or Real Di Stefano's 9? No disrespect to Gianluca Pessotto, whose number 7 was retired by Juventus. But if he deserves that, then there is a list a mile long of players that deserve the same honor. If we don't get this situation under control, we will no longer have any good numbers left. Even stranger is this development of defenders getting numbers usually reserved for attacking players. Like Gallas wearing number 10 at Arsenal and Boulahrouz wearing 9 at Chelsea.

I like seeing who will be Brazil or Argentina's new number 10. So let's keep the squad numbering system because it is pretty useful, but let's do away with this number retiring business. If only it where that easy.

For more information on this topic, check out this page.

Update: Premiership to Introduce New Name/Number Lettering

2007-03-10T19:46:00.000-05:00

Looks like England's Premier League took at least part of my advice and will be changing the font of the names and numbers on the back of all clubs' shirts for the 2007/08 season. Special thanks to uniwatch blog and football-shirts.co.uk for being on top of this.

Ricky Strikes Again

2007-03-07T21:22:00.001-05:00

This is a good opportunity to put up a picture of two of the best kits in the world, the famous hoops of Celtic and the Rossoneri of AC Milan. I must say that I don't like the "BWIN" advertising on the Milan shirt, it's a gambling website. It's pretty disappointing that a club as prestigious as Milan would stoop to putting a gambling website on the shirts. It looks even worse in light of the Calciopoli scandal.

Anyway, here Ricardo Kaka is flying by a Celtic defender to score the winning goal in Milan's 1-0 extra time UEFA Champions League win over the Bhoys at the San Siro. As a Milan supporter I am very excited about all this, and don't discount Milan in this year's Champions League, they could definitely win it all. They have the talent and are one of the few teams left that is not in contention for their league title, so they can focus on European competition.

Digging in the Vaults: SC Heerenveen

2007-03-06T21:44:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while we'll go digging in the footballkitblog vault. In the vault there are all manner of unique and interesting football shirts.

Today we're looking at the home shirt of SC Heerenveen, from the Dutch Eredivisie, the top flight of Dutch football. This particular shirt I picked up in Amsterdam in a little store near the Leidsplein. I believe it's the 2006/07 model. It's made by umbro, and there is a red cross on the right shoulder, similar to what England was wearing until recently.

I'm always on the lookout for interesting and unique shirts, and this one certainly fit the bill(Although it is a little gay, oops not supposed to say that). The design of the shirt is vertical blue and white stripes adorned by red hearts. Yes, red hearts. While on the surface it sounds absurd that a football team would put big red hearts on their shirt, there is a deeper explanation. You see, the home shirt is actually patterned after the flag of the Dutch Province of Friesland, where the town of Heerenveen is located. You judge for yourself if that justifies putting those hearts on there. I personally like it but will probably never wear it outside(especially in the states). I also like the tongue twister advertising on the front. It says "VERZEKERINGEN". Say that three times quickly.

Champions League Mystery

2007-03-05T15:10:00.001-05:00

I've noticed something different in this year's Champions League. I noticed that a couple of teams in this year's competition that are from leagues with an "open" shirt number policy (see here) have slightly tweaked the back of their home shirts for the Champions League. Take a look at this picture of the back of Barcelona's regular home shirt. Now look at what they have been wearing in the Champions League. Notice any difference? The Champions League shirt has more blue in the back. The red stripes have been practically wiped out.

The second case involves my favorite club, AC Milan. Here is their usual home shirt. Now look at the Champions League version. The numbers for the regular shirt are gold, while the numbers on the Champions League version are white.

In both of these cases I have no idea why these teams would implement these minor changes. I'd like to think it has to do with some special UEFA regulation about making the back of the shirts more legible, but I doubt it. It probably has to do with selling more shirts. I know for sure I've seen the AC Milan shirt for sale with both of the shirt number colors, and I'm sure both Barcelona versions are out there too.

These two teams are the only ones that I know of that are doing this type of thing. If you know of any others or if you know the reason for this, drop us a line here at footballkitblog.com.

And the Jersey Goes to...

2007-02-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

Since it's Oscar time, I've decided to hand out the 1st annual footballkitblog awards, officially called the Jerseys (aren't' I clever?). There are three categories, best home kit, best away kit, and best keeper kit. The respective winners were able to stay aesthetically pleasing while bringing something new and dynamic to the table. So without further delay here are this year's winners, for the 2006-2007 football/soccer season:

1. Best Home Kit: The Winner this year is Russian club Rubin Kazan. Their 2006/07 UEFA cup shirt is a thing of beauty. It is simple yet distinctive, as any good uniform should be. The burgundy color is striking, a rarely used color in football shirts. But the kicker here is the cool logo on the chest of the shirt. It's some kind of cat-like creature with wings. I'm sure it's an advert of some sort, but I don't know of what. This is possibly the first time a shirt looks better because of advertising. Take that logo away and the shirt becomes quite ordinary.

2. Best Away Kit: The winner is Paris St. Germain. At first glance this kit didn't look like much to me, but on further inspection, it became a different story. See, the small sublimated pattern on the shirt is actually a nod to fashion house Louis Vuitton and their famous "Monogram" pattern. I think that's killer. That, coupled with the fact that the shirt is a maroonish brown which is quite nice. Also, for the first few months, the shirt was available without the hideous "Fly Emirates" advertising that PSG now wear.

3. Best Goalkeeper Kit: This was perhaps the easiest choice of all the categories. This one goes to the Italian national team. Not sure if this was the home or away jersey, but the gold jersey was beautiful. You can see it in action here. hands down, I can't think of another goalkeeper jersey released this year that came close to this.

So there are this year's winners. Feel free to let us know how you feel about the choices, and what if anything you would have done differently.

An Open Letter to the Premier League (And the Scottish Premier, and Ligue 1, and MLS)

2007-02-20T17:44:00.000-05:00

Most of you know by now that England's Premier League along with a few other leagues around the world have a policy of making all the clubs in the league wear the same shirt numbers on the back of the jersey. For example, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and every other team in the Premiership wear these numbers. The same is true of the Scottish Premier League along with Ligue 1 in France and MLS here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Let's take a moment to analyze the pros and cons of such a policy and then I'll tell you why we here at footballkitblog are opposed to this policy.

First the pros. Obviously with a uniform code for all shirt numbers, you don't end up with wild variations of shirt numbers. This can be helpful in cases like this, where the team obviously used poor judgement in picking their shirt numbers. Also, since many of the Premier League's clubs also compete in the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Cup, the teams get to wear different shirt numbers like Man. U., which this year is wearing these numbers in Europe, or Chelsea which this year is wearing this in Europe. This makes for a scenario where many die-hard fans will go out and buy this year's Home "league" shirt and the Home "europe" shirt. The only difference on the shirt being the shirt numbers (and in some case, certain sleeve patches). That translates to a fleecing of the supporters, oops, sorry, increased revenue for the clubs and kit makers. Lastly, I must say that the Premier League's numbers are very well-made and are higher quality that many shirt numbers around the world. The material they are made from seems to be thicker and they have a felt-type of finish. I also like the little Premier League Badge at the bottom of each digit.

Now to the cons. The biggest one is that this uniform policy stifles creativity. I mean c'mon, these Premier League numbers are at least 10-15 years old by now. That means 10-15 years of watching your team in the same old shirt numbers in a sport where shirt numbers are constantly evolving. Just look at this picture of the Spanish Primera League, which has an "open" shirt number policy. Doesn't that look much better than this? And for once can these clubs and manufacturers go easy on the fans? Why make us go out and buy 2 of the same shirt? As far as the bottom of the digits, it's much nicer to have the club badge on there instead of the League badge. Just look at this. In most cases, the league badge is already on the sleeve of the shirt. Yeah, I know the club badge is already on the chest, but it is the club's shirt, not the league's.

So I'm urging the Premier League to look into this matter. If I'm not mistaken, the Premiership was the first to implement the uniform shirt number policy, and surely the other copy-cat leagues would reassess the situation if England did the same. Perhaps a compromise would be to come up with a uniform standard for shirt numbers, in terms of height, width, materials, thickness, number of colors used, etc.

Mexico Releases New Adidas Shirt

2007-02-19T05:26:00.000-05:00

Mexico has just released their new kit made by Adidas. I'll let you judge for yourself if it's a step back for Mexico. I put up the new Adidas shirt above the most recent shirt, which was made by Nike. My commentary on this is that to me Mexico is constantly changing their kit manufacturer, at least every couple of years. Off the top of my head I can think of the following brands that have made Mexico's kit in the past 10 years or so: Umbro, ABA Sport, Athletica, Nike, Adidas. My point is that this environment does not provide consistency for the Mexican football aesthetic. They should stick with one brand like most associations do.

Some of My Favorites

2007-02-19T04:59:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite football kit designs. This is by no means a comprehensive list. It is also not year-specific, meaning that only the teams that have the best uniforms year-in and year-out are listed here. Eventually I'll do a list of the best year-specific designs. So here they are in no particular order:
#1. Vasco Da Gama - Home/Away: This Brazilian team has a simple yet elegant design in white or black with a diagonal sash. I particularly like the black shirt. This club has managed to steer clear of adverts on the front of the jersey. I also heard somewhere that the club chose its colors of black and white as a symbol of racial unity and that the club was at the forefront of racial integration in Brazilian football. You gotta like that.
#2. Sampdoria - Home: I don't know the story behind this design, but I like it. A royal blue shirt with red and black stripes inside a white rectangle. And in the middle is a shield with a cross on it. The current cut of the shirt notwithstanding, this is a nice shirt.
#3. Boca Juniors - Home: This shirt is famous around the world because of Diego Maradona and the club's many international achievements. The blue and yellow is distinctive and classy. They usually alternate every year or so between a royal blue shirt and a more navy blue design. I prefer when they use the royal blue.
#4. Italy - Home: This jersey has always been simple and classic. I think it's the best example of a country using a color not on their national flag as a primary color on their uniform.
#5. Peru - Home/Away: Maybe you are seeing a pattern. I like Royal blue and diagonal sashes. Seriously, the Peru jersey is very nice. I prefer the away red jersey to the home white. We can also throw River Plate in this mix but I won't put up their picture because I'm a Boca fan!

Welcome to the Football Kit Blog

2007-02-19T03:59:00.000-05:00

I'm a football fanatic. When I say football I mean what Americans call Soccer. I love all aspects of the game. I believe that the football/soccer uniform is the best uniform in all of sports. It's simple, practical, and is the most wearable for fans. Some folks won't wear soccer jerseys because they have advertising on them. While I consider myself an aesthetic purist, I realize that advertising is a part of the game, and while most of the best soccer jerseys have minimal to no advertising, certain advert-laden jerseys can still be quite beautiful. Case in point the ABN-AMRO advertising vertically aligned on the Ajax Amsterdam jersey. Besides, the reality of football economics tells us that the advertising helps to pay for the big-name players our teams bring in.