AFC Ajax (Away 1998/99)

To end my ‘Farewell Umbro‘ week, I want to look at probably my favorite Umbro jersey, which coincidentally I also own: the away jersey worn by Ajax during the (rather unsuccessful) 1998/99 season. For years, Umbro has been equipping Ajax especially during the very successful Louis van Gaal years when Ajax won the Champions League in 1995 and reached the final in 1996. Most of these seasons, the Ajax away jersey was green, but sometimes a darker blue or purple has also been worn. All these designs were useful as an away jersey, but somehow did not fit in the club’s color scheme of red-and-white. Well neither does this one entirely, but have in mind that the colors of the city of Amsterdam are red, black and white.

So, what have we got here? The 1998/98 Ajax away jersey was a black shirt with a broad white center stripe – a design we already know from the home jersey. Unlike the home jersey, the white center stripe is banded by additional thinner stripes: two very thin ones in black and red and then a silvery one. This makes the center stripe look broader than on the home jerseys, but also adds a nice touch to the design. The crest is placed in the center and the unusual sponsor at the time runs down vertically, while the Umbro logo is placed horizontally slightly off-center above the crest. I admit, this looks unbalanced and slightly weird, but this was also the common style of Ajax in the 90s. Still, this is the one point that could have been improved on. The sleeves feature very thin red stripes and the great-looking black shirt collar has a white and red trim.

What I do like about this jersey is that it replicates the design from the home jersey, but in a very unique way. The back of the jersey however is plain black and (unlike) the home jersey has no center stripe. I also like that while black is not necessarily one of the club’s colors, it provides a nice contrast to the home jersey and is easily justified with the reference to the flag of Amsterdam. Given my leanings in club soccer, the color choice was always bound to be a favorite of mine. I only would have wished that the Umbro wordmark and the sponsor could have been placed in a bit more balanced way.

My rating: 9/10 stars.

How do you rate this shirt?

Manchester United (UCL Home 1997/2000)

This shirt is probably the most well-known Umbro shirt of all time. Yes, that’s the one that was worn that one night in Barcelona, when Manchester United turned around the Champions League Final in stoppage time against a baffled Bayern Munich side. To be honest, at the time and even now I was not a fan of either of the two teams, but was hoping that ManU will at least win that one. This 1999 Champions League Final bothered me also in two other ways: first of all it was the first final without featuring league champions, which at the time truly was a big deal (why call it Champions League?). Second of all, the two other semi-finalists, Juventus and Dynamo Kiev, were arguably the better teams in the two semis. I won’t take away the magic comeback of Manchester in Turin, but Bayern was entirely outplayed in Kiev and clawed on to a very lucky 3-3 draw. Third of all, this final was boring as can be and probably would have been forgotten if Bayern had held onto their lead (which they had many chances of extending). But that stoppage time will make this particular final enter eternity. There is one last reason, but I will save that when I will cover the jersey worn by the Germans on next week’s Flashback Friday (it was not by Umbro).

So, let’s see the shirt that ManU wore to complete their treble. While in England they used to wear a different style, this shirt was solely worn in European competitions. At first it is a very classic looking Manchester United shirt: all-red with white accents. I like the shirt collar with its red-and-black trim, but the front of the collar looks odd with that additional V. I wish a more classic version could have been used here. The logo, sponsor and crest are well placed but could have been moved a bit more to the outside. I also think that the shield holding Manchester United’s crest looks a bit too pompous. Lastly, this would not be a true 1990s jersey, if it would not have an interesting inlay. In this case we have a striped pattern that holds the Champions League’s star ball on the left side.

As I said, this jersey is overall quite nice, but I wish the collar would look not as odd. Given the time it was worn, this one will live on for a long time.

My rating: 8/10 stars.

How do you rate this shirt?