Now that the Champions League has reached the last 16 I thought it might interesting to check through the home kits of the clubs that are left. It’s a mixed bag, but of course with virtually all the clubs changing their kit every season this is always going to be the case. But on the whole I think the good outweighs the bad. Soccer Betting
The best kits for me include Roma (but how can you go wrong with that superb colour scheme?!) with the reversed stitching across the chest, Real Madrid – elegant all-white from adidas as ever, Schalke’s simple but strong blue strip and Nike’s Inter shirt that introduces a new twist (or should that be zig-zag) on the blue and black stripes.
The Kappa kits are strong – especially Valencia’s and I’m fascinated by adidas’ continuing experiments with outlandish kits for their French clubs. Both Marseille and Lyon are in the last 16 and as usual they are sporting completely different kits to their regular home and away (although both European home kits are also their domestic thirds – confused?!) The Marseille outfit I think really works and I love the subtle red, yellow and green stitching throughout but the Lyon shirt is just too much in my view. Yet so many adidas/French shirts are favouring this ‘in your face’ approach to kit design these days – its especially common in the country’s domestic rugby outfits as well.
The weaker designs in my view include AC Milan with the stripes just not working for me and Barcelona, which for some reason just doesn’t seem powerful enough…plus I don’t like the neck!
On top of that of course you have Spurs’ special all-white European shirt (with different sponsors to their regular Premier League jerseys) and Manchester United’s white socks.
Just for the record, the split across the manufacturers makes interesting reading with adidas dominating: ADIDAS – 7 KITS, NIKE – 5 KITS, KAPPA – 3 KITS, PUMA – 1 KIT
I like the Roma kit as well – I still wear their 2000-01 shirt that I have.
Agree on the French clubs’ kits, very odd to have unusual colours in the biggest competition, while Barca should always have blue shorts IMO
Interesting stuff, great illustrations, as always.
Out of the 16 kits, I seem to prefer the Nike one’s. Manchester United’s home kit this season seems to work better with the white Champions League socks, in my opinion.
It’s only a little thing, but I think the Schalke, Lyon, Marseille, and Real Madrid adidas kits would look better if they didn’t have the little three stripes at the sleeve, like Bayern Munich’s and Chelsea’s.
By the way, shouldn’t Barcelona’s socks be blue, John?
One more thing, was anybody else surprised by the reaction of the English press and fans, to the Barcelona light green away kit when they played Arsenal at the Emirates the other week?
I was surprised to hear fans talking about it, and even the odd article written in some newpapers/websites!
Barca have issue with their away kits due to them being unable to use Blue or Red for obvious reasons and their refusal to wear white for even more obvious reasons! My preferred option is yellow (well a sort of golden yellow) with 2 thin stripes (1 claret 1 blue) on the left side of the shirt.
P.S. thanks for doing the Spurs Euro strip, I should have known you’d have something up your sleeve!
I remember them using blue as a change kit, in 04-05, Andrew.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/51141340/Getty-Images-Sport
They don’t seem to use black as a change colour as the goalkeeper kit seems to always be black – for some reason.
I actually don’t have a problem with the light green away kit, I think it’s fine. I was just surprised at the comments it provoked when they wore it in England.
By the way, Andrew, it sounds like your ideal Barcelona change kit is the 08-10 effort! 😀
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/98170270/Getty-Images-Sport
v nice kits as per usual. One comment though, Chelsea have red Adidas logos on the back of the socks, not blue. In the “learning something new” department I had no idea Man. Utd. used black/white socks instead of black/red in Europe!
Like the Bayern Munich and Copenhagen more than any other here.not that fond of any of the nike kits with the exception of arsenal.shaktar and barca kits I think are very poor.
Good to see Kappa represented well here.with borussia dortmund aassured of a champions league place next year kappa will have a much higher profile next season.interesting design for roma but its not a colour I have ever really liked though.
First time in a few seasons that Umbro have not had a kit in the knockout stages also I would imagine.
The Adidas jug is definitely half full.Good kits from schalke and chelsea but those french kits are god awful.
@Alan – It’s something they’ve done in all cup competitions with about 10 years, they first began to use white socks in Europe with the European kit introduced in 1997.
Annoyingly I can’t find pics, but Barcelona’s third kit in 2001-02 was blue shirts with red shorts and socks!
@ Denis Hurley – Just like Spurs white shorts, something I never realised until now. Does anyone else think that the Lyon shirt looks like something David Seaman would have worn in the ’80s?
John it’s great to seem some European Club shirts on the site. Real, Barca, Roma, and Milan are all excellent. The Inter kit isn’t up to it’s usual standard this year and as with a lot of Nike’s kits this season looks very cheaply produced. Having said that Barca’s kit is a big improvement on last seasons halved affair. The big dissapointment for me is the Marseilles kit. The Black with Pale Blue highlights would be fine but with the yellow/green/red band there is just too much going on.
Does anyone know the significance of these colours being added to the kit?
I remember reading something a few months ago about Marseille honouring some of their supporters groups with the designs of their third/European kits, and this black kit with “Rastafarian” stripe is one of them.
They had an outlandish strip in 2007 which honoured another supporters group, which was an eyeball searing orange and sky blue combo. I’ve provided a link, but you might need to put some dark glasses on to see it!!!
http://images02.olx.fr/ui/1/53/48/4754548_2.jpg
Lyon’s kit is far too busy and does look like something out of the Stade Français rugby team wardrobe. Having said that, their domestic away shirt (wine red with magenta and gold) is even more wacky. Anyway I still don’t get why French teams abandon their traditional colours for bizarre colour schemes in Europe. I know some teams change some kit elements, such as Man U wearing white socks, and Spurs with white shorts, but the French teams take it to the extreme.
By the way I think Barça’s kit would be a whole lot better if the collar and shorts were blue, and from what I have seen from leaked pictures, next season’s shirt is going to be a right eyesore. I still think their shirt from 2007 was the best in a while and still wear it now and again.
As for the mint green away kit that was used at Arsenal, well I’m surprised at the press reaction, after all, Barça had a mint green away kit for much of the 1990’s when Kappa supplied their kit, only Nike added some navy shorts to it which look a bit out of place to be honest.
Roma’s is probably the best looking kit of the teams in the last 16, I’ve knocked Kappa in the past for their kits being so alike season after season, but they’ve done a decent job here, and same with Valencia. Schalke’s kit is decent too but shame about the broken adidas stripes.
Inter’s shirt, to be honest, looks rather shocking, if my TV was fuzzy like their shirts, I’d take it back to the shop!
Some cracking kits in that line up. I’m loving the French clubs’ experimentation, esapecially Marseille’s. Also really like the Kappa Copenhagen outfit…looked very stylish last week.
Inter’s is still my favourite though…looks even better in the flesh. Milan’s is a lame template affair though…very much upstaged by their rivals.
Top 3 would have to be:
Inter
Copenhagen
Marseille
As a Motherwell fan, there is something about the Roma kit I really like. Not sure about the WIND sponsor though! 🙂
Roma shirt is very good, I think the Kappa shirts are very stylish, always simple and effective.
@ Denis Hurley – is this the Barca shirt you were looking for? No shorts or socks though.
http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/en/teams/b/barcelona/old-barcelona-football-shirt-s12781.html
Just come across this site with an excellent recent history of Barca kits.
http://www.barcaloco.com/page/show/138040-kit-history
That’s the one Alan, it was worn with the socks in this pic http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/1089700/Getty-Images-Sport
Was interesting to see Arsenal’s change shorts for the first time last night v. Barca. Was wondering before the game if they would wear blue from their third kit to avoid a clash. Lousy refereeing as per usual in a Barca CL game. Can anyone say Ovrebo!
Arsenal also wore all yellow on the opening day of the season at Liverpool. I definitely agree about the refereeing last night, ruined the game as a spectacle.
Arsenal have worn change yellow shorts quite a few times with the away kit this season. As Jon pointed out, at Anfield on the opening day of the season.
Also, they wore them at Sunderland and Shakhtar Donetsk.
It seems to only be the home kit that Arsenal don’t like to wear change shorts. They often change away/third kit shorts.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/104248473/Getty-Images-Sport
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/106490874/Getty-Images-Publicity
By the way, regarding the match last night. Whilst I don’t think the referee helped, Arsenal did their best to ruin the match as a spectacle. They were appauling. Just looks at the stats from the game.
They didn’t manage a single shot at goal, they had only 24% possesion, they couldn’t get past the first period of pressing from Barca, they managed just 199 passes compared to Barcelona’s 700+, and despite what Wenger said he would do, and going against his “ideals” they just sat back and defended.
I was really dissapointed with Arsenal last night, and I think they got what they deserved.
And, whilst I agree that Van Persie shouldn’t have been given a second yellow card for kicking the ball away, I have to say I’m a little surprised that there has been very little mention that maybe Van Persie shouldn’t have even been on the pitch following his top of the shin hack at Lionel Messi, which was at least a yellow card.
Surely RVP’s biggest crime was those red undershorts!
Anyhow it doesn’t matter cos the Spurs Go Marching On!
Just to clarify, when I said seeing the shorts for the first time I meant first time for me. I was aware they had worn them before but had not seen them.
I was surprised to see Barcelona’s shirt this season have stripes on the back of the shirt, rather than the single colour.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/109882855/AFP
I thought teams playing in the Champions League and the Europa League had to have single colour backs, to make the squad number “more visable”? Has this rule been quietly dropped?
Or, maybe I haven’t been paying attention and this is old news, but I can’t remember the last Barca shirt to have stripes on the back of the shirt, because of that rule.
By the way, fantastic illustrations as usual, John, but you have made one little mistake. The Barcelona socks should be blue. You’ve done them in red.
I believe that UEFA now accept striped shirts if they’re 2 dark colours e.g. red and blue, red and black, as the numbers stand out regardless if they’re a lighter colour. Teams wearing dark and light stripes or hoops e.g. red and white still need a single coloured area for the name and number. I assume the same would also apply for light stripes and dark numbers e.g. Argentina’s colour scheme.
I think.
Copenhagen’s away kit was superb tonight. Any chance of repeating the last 16 John, but with the away kits.
James Telford – You’re probably, right. It sounds like it makes sense. Thanks.
Mark Jessop – I agree, it looked great. By the way, how much does Kappa like that pink and black colour scheme? They seem to have produced it for so many teams and goalkeeper kits over the past few years!
Not that I’m complaining, it’s actually one of the reasons I like Kappa.
quote: The Barcelona socks should be blue. You’ve done them in red.
…..and a little reminder that the Adidas logo on Chelsea’s socks should be red and not blue!
I personally love the Marseille kits, they seem to be unafraid to try something new from time to time, and they also seem to receive more interesting design templates from adidas than any other team, perhaps the link with the Dreyfus clan helps in that accord?
Thanks for all your great work John, LOVE the books!
Iain – thanks very much for your comments and compliments, much appreciated!! I have to confess to being strangely drawn to the French adidas kits for both football and rugby as time goes on. I’m warming to them…!
John I hope you have seen the new Lyon kit for next season? I have instantly fallen in love, as everything adidas does well seems to have come together in one spectacular set of kit. Aside from the fact that they have taken the usual OL sash and turned it horizontal, they have included some lovely watermarks and it is truly a delight!
Also curious as to whether you have ever thought of a column comparing the brilliant kit we get as lovers of football compared to some of the shoddy efforts on rugby, gridiron, basketball, ice hockey etc etc? Thanks for your response, made my day!