My Favorite European Club Jerseys 2018-19

You know that earlier this year I decided to restart this blog and put a focus on national teams. Given that the World Cup was about to be upon us, that was a very easy decision for me. And now with the Nations League and my time restrictions it is still a challenge to post regularly. Therefore, it is unlikely that I will go back to club jerseys any time soon. However, today is my birthday and for that reason I want to do something special. After all the Austria extravaganza yesterday, I just cannot go back to normal “programming”. For that reason, I went back to my jersey review videos for 2018-19 (links are below) and decided to post here all my favorite shirts of the European Club season. No long description, just the shirts and a short sentence. 🙂

Before we start, I run through the leagues/competitions in the order I covered them on my YouTube channel. To see my quick thoughts on each shirt simply click on it.

Let’s start in England in the Premier League:

 

AFC Bournemouth Home: Bold design, subtle use of gold and a sponsor the ties nicely to the color scheme

Chelsea FC Home: A fresh new design on the classic blue kit

FC Everton Home: simple, yet very classic look.

FC Liverpool Home: A classic look for a classic team

Manchester City Away: Probably my favorite Premier League jersey this year. I love the alternating pinstripes

Manchester United Third: best example for this Adidas template and a great job aligning the colors of the sponsor with the logos on the jersey

Tottenham Hotspur FC Home: I just love the navy accents on the white shirt. Even the gradient looks great!

For a full description of these and (most of) the other Premier League jerseys, watch my jersey review videos:

Now, next up is the league of the World Cup winners France:

 

Girondins de Bordeaux Third: wonderfl alternate look.

Caen Home: Nice re-interpretation of PSG 93-94 and Barcelona 17-18

Olympique Marseille Away: great use of light blue accents on a black shirt

OGC Nice Home: If Macron would make a Milan jersey it would look like this. Classic, classy, superb!

Nimes full set: I just love how the dragon from the crest is featured on the bottom of the shirt.

Stade Rennais Away: I love the pattern on the bottom on the jersey and the subtle red/black accents.

AS St. Etienne Away: Super nice look! Making the very best out of this classy template.

Toulouse Away: Even the many sponsors (all in one color) cannot distract from the modern look of this jersey.

Again, you can see full comments on these and all the other Ligue 1 jerseys in this playlist:

By now, you should know that Serie A is my favorite league and there are sooo many great shirts this season:

 

Atalanta Bergamo Home: Just a classic look!

US Cagliari Home: I love te half/half look and the colors. Also the sponsors tie in with the crest

FC Internazionale Away: Simple at first, but I love the half/half collar and the subtle snake skin pattern all over.

SS Lazio Home: Perfect Lazio look! They should wear this forever!

AC Milan Home: Puma issues a classic Milan shirt and eases my nerves about the supplier switch.

FC Parma Home: Yellow, blue, hoops! How great is that shirt?

AS Roma Home: Did you notice the chainmail pattern on this shirt? Roman legionnaires for sure!

US Sampdoria Away: What a clever way to incorporate the classic pattern on a super classy shirt.

US Sassuolo Away: Alternating pinstripes for the win!

Udinese Calcio Home: Nice way to add a touch of gold that ties in nicely with the crest.

That was just a small sampling. Watch all Serie A shirts in these videos:

Quick, let’s look at a few La Liga jerseys:

 

Real Betis Balompie Home: Super nice looking shirt!

Atletic Bilbao Home: Interesting reinterpretation of a classic shirt

Celta de Vigo Home: Only very subtle Adidas branding to make a great shirt.

RCD Espanyol Home: All shirts look great, but the home jersey paired with that sponsor is a beauty!

Girona Home: Diagonal striping? Unusual, but very much in tone with the crest!

UD Levante Home: The best Barcelna shirt of the past 5 years?

Real Madrid Home: Happy to have the black accents back and I love the neckline!

Real Sociedad Home: Macron delivers another really nice kit.

Real Valladolid Home: I love how the sponsor is made to fit in the clor scheme.

Even more jerseys right here:

So, here are my favorite Bundesliga jerseys this year:

 

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Away: Alternating diagonal pinstripes in reference to the 1988 UEFA Cup winning kit.

Borussia Dortmund Home: I love the black sleeves broken up by yello bands.

Mainz 05 Home: Simple, yet effective with two-tone red hoops.

Borussia M’Gladbach Third: Beautiful green shirt with nice texture.

VfB Stuttgart Third: All Stuttgart jerseys this season are great, but this one is probably the best!

SV Werder Bremen Third: Classic Werder look and I love the diamonds radiating from the crest.

Of course, I reviewed also all the Bundesliga jerseys:

Now, let’s go tho the Champions League and look at a few jerseys from teams not in the big 5 leagues.

 

AEK Third: Simple and classy!

AFC Ajax Home: You cannot mess with greatness and Adidas surely didn’t.

SL Benfica Home: Still this is a very modern yet classy interpretation of a classic strip.

Crvena Zvezda Third: Very smart away jersey using a dark blue base and still showcasing the club’s colors.

Galatasaray SK Away: I love how the half-half look from the home jersey is used here in the accents.

FC Porto Third: a very playful, yet beatiful shirt!

The full set of Champions League jerseys are critiqued in these videos:

And finally, let’s get a tad more exotic with the jerseys from the Europa League. Here are my favorites:

 

Celtic FC Away: tartan pattern and celtic cross, what’s not to like!

SK Slavia Home: iconic and beautiful

Fenerbahce SK Home: A nice Adidas version of a great kit.

Sporting CP Home: Macron delivers again.

Apollon Limassol Away: I love the texture on the shirt and the choice of colors! I look at it and imagine the sea!

Dynamo Kiev Away: Simple and wonderful like a classic jersey should be.

PAOK Home: Everything in black and white making for a very unified and solid look. Also, I love the collar!

And here I tried critique all Europa League jerseys:

Well, I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post. Let me know what are your favorite club jerseys this season and how you would rate the jerseys above.

Iceland (Home, Away & Third 2018-19)

On to the current Iceland look, which conveniently is very consistent over all three offered jerseys. So, it also makes sense to have our first full shirt set overview for the 2018 World Cup.

Despite their recent successes, Iceland are still considered outsiders in their group. However, I do like their chances against Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria. The gauchos are the big name but probably in their most vulnerable state. Croatia is well known from qualification, but a tough opponent and while the talent level of Nigeria should be higher, as with any African team there is always the question whether the individual players will gel together. Given that Iceland will probably exceed all three on the work ethic side, I find a second place finish is not out of reach. But that is in the future and the recent tests in the US were on the other side not as promising. But, we got a look at the new Iceland kit which allows me to finally write this post:

Iceland’s Kari çrnason (14) and Sverrir Ingi Ingason (5) react after Mexico goalkeeper Jose de Jesœs Corona (1) made a save in the first half of an exhibition soccer game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

This time around Errea treats us with an entirely new template based on the fire & ice reputation of Iceland. So, the torso is just in a deep royal blue and quite plain, but all the action is relegated to the collar and the sleeves. Well the sleeves are raglan sleeves being white on the shoulders and the using a dot pattern mostly red on the underarms and blue on the back. It is an interesting look for sure although some white on the sleeves might not have hurt. The collar is similarly white, but quite annoyingly on the front it turns blue out of nowhere with a red line setting it apart from the torso. Given the organic transition between colors on the sleeves, the sudden switch between colors looks out of place and frankly, I hate it. If the collar was all white or had some sort of gradient to it, I would be alright with it, but this looks like patchwork and ruins the shirt. And while the sleeves do look odd, I at least like the idea behind it and find it a nice accent. Fortunately, Iceland is also staying with their simple font on these, so no foul here. If only we could do something about the crest …

Overall, of all the Iceland home jerseys we have looked on this blog so far, this is the one I like least. And it sounds ridiculous, but it is mainly down to the horrible collar. I am also not a big fan of the fire and ice sleeves, but can accept them as an interesting concept. But it looks overall average and thanks to collar even a bit cheap. Why didn’t they keep the previous home jersey?

My rating: 5/10 stars.

Now, quite conveniently, the away and third jersey have the same design and we can judge whether the sleeves fit better with another color:

Well, while I like the blue best as a color here, I find that both alternate jerseys look better. The collar is indefensible on either one but the front looks better on both. I like how on the white the sleeves emerge from the white and the collar is not as visible making the front kind of OK to look at. Still, if you want it to be blue and red on the front use a similar fade as on the sleeves. But the look overall is again a little better than the home jersey.

My rating: 6/10 stars.

The red third jersey is a very bold choice that actually works quite well with the red on the sleeves and the “snowed-on” shoulders. As one of the three national colors, red is also a defensible choice, but a bit unusual to look at. The collar looks similarly weird as on the blue jersey, but now the red lower line blends better with the jersey and it doesn’t quite look as awful. Still, the collar still pops out as an eyesore here. Rating this one is quite tough as it is somewhere between the blue and the white. But then, I do not give out half points here. Briefly I was considering lowering the grade for the home jersey because of that, but that would also not be fair. But if I had to choose, I feel more comfortable with the lower rating here.

My rating: 5/10 stars.

How would you rate these shirts?

Iceland (Away & Third 2014-17)

Let’s stay north, but go even further west and a tad up and look back at some recent Iceland shirts. As with the home jersey, I want to go back a bit further here, since I have not written anything about Iceland before.

In many ways, Iceland will be everyone’s second favorite team. What is not to like? Smallest nation by population, grim looking dudes, Viking chants and the lure of the upset. Even I was in the end happy that Iceland pulled the upset at the hands of my beloved Dutch and my home country. And of course, I was giddy as hell when England got eliminated.

So, let’s look at the alternate Iceland shirts, which are as expected mainly white with blue:

Well, this version that was worn during EURO qualifying is more or less the white version of the home kit, but thanks to the blue collar and the blue outline around the red/white band make it stand on its own and it has in a way more personality. I really like the separate collar on here. and even the band looks better here now that it looks a bit more complex. The fact that the font used for names and numbers is very plain and well legible is just icing on the cake. Now, if we could do something about the crest. Still, this one is better than the home version although basically the same shirt in white.

My rating: 8/10 stars.

Now, at EURO 2016 Iceland issued two alternate shirts with the white one worn against France and the black one mainly by the goal keeper – although it was issued as a field player shirt:

Now, in many ways I can describe these jerseys the same way as I did above: a white and a black version of the home jersey, but the red stripe is now flanked by an additional blue one which adds a little bit of complexity. But now, the collar does not stand out as much and in the case of the white kit, we are (vertical stripe apart) just switching colors. But oddly enough, here I like the blue version better than both the white and the black. Looking at the white, I do like how the vertical striping stands out, but it looks a bit too much like Costa Rica than Iceland in my mind. Still, not too bad:

My rating: 7/10 stars.

Now, the black version is not too different, but the blue is barely visible and also the fade does not look as nice here as on either the blue or the white one. Also, the white on the collar creates a bit too much contrast for my liking, making this one the worst of the crop.

My rating: 6/10 stars.

How would you rate these shirts?

Iceland (Home 2014-17)

So, I really want to avoid a long string of Nike posts complaining about their templates. For now you do get the idea that I do not particularly like it, but as we will see there are some examples where it works OK. But in order to break the mold a bit and do something different, let’s look at Iceland. Their World Cup jersey is already released, but I want to first get a picture of their font used for names and numbers before writing about it.

Iceland surely is THE story over the past four if not six years in European football. One of the smallest nations in terms of population is mixing it up with the big boys. While making it to the playoffs for the 2014 World Cup may have looked like a fluke, qualifying for EURO 2016 in a very tough group AND eliminating/humiliating the Netherlands in the process surely made heads turn and proved that Iceland is for real. Any doubters were surely put int heir place when they beat Austria to make it to the knock-out stages at EURO 2016 and then managed to (deservedly!!!) knock out England before succumbing to France. After that, the Viking chants were heard around the world and even made it to the NFL! But that’s not all: direct qualification to the 2018 World Cup (a tougher task than qualification for EURO 2016) and being placed in League A in the new UEFA Nations League followed and only a fool will think that Iceland are roll-overs. Don’t be surprised if they make it out of their group despite an incredibly tough draw! Iceland is here to stay!

Now, while I have often had the intention to write about an Iceland shirt during the European qualifiers in 2015, I never actually got around to do so and for that reasonm I want to go back even a little bit further and look at the jersey that really put Iceland on the map by beating the Netherlands a few months after they finished third at the World Cup:

Well, first off I am not only covering a new team, but also a new supplier: Errea! The small Italian brand is equipping Iceland since 2002 and produced quite a nice kit: simple and yet nicely incorporating national elements. The shirt is mainly blue but has a red band bordered by thinner white bands running across the chest – a clear reference to the Icelandic flag. Above the band, we see the manufacturer logo on the proper right and the Iceland FA logo on the proper left. It would be an understatement to say that I dislike the logo, but then you have to work with what is given to you. But anything featuring essentially a clip-art soccer ball is bound to not perceived highly by me. The collar however is remarkable and looks actually better than I first thought. I also thoroughly like the no-nonsense font for names and numbers. It fits very well with the team and still manages to look great. There are two further things that makes not everything click for me is the shade of blue as I wish it was a bit deeper. Also the horizontal band is a little boring. Some slight fading or a vertical band reminding us of the flag could have made it more interesting. But then again, it is a no-nonsense look for a no-nonsense team and thus very fitting.

My rating: 6/10 stars.

Now to the jersey that made history in France, the one that beat both Austria (personally, a blow for me but it caused this awesome video to be made, so I got quickly over it) and England (one of the very few highlights of the tournament).

At first sight this one looks a lot sharper! The blue jersey uses a much deeper blue tone and making the stripe run down vertically on the left side really adds personality. And I am just a sucker for this design feature. Also look how clever it is: the stripe slightly fades out in order to not drown out the still not good FA logo. But it also makes it far less visible and not as distracting as before. Simple change producing an absolute winner! Well, the collar is on the other side trying to be too much. V-neck with an inset and a standing collar at once. I think a fully outlined V-neck (white with red?) would have worked better here. But to be fair, it does not ruin the jersey at all – just adds an odd twist. The cuffs also are white which gives the jersey a bit more personality. Maybe some red could have found its way there, too, but not a biggie. The backside is plain as the previous shirt, but now we have Iceland’s flag there. And I am happy to report that name and number font have not been altered and still look very good. And I love the numbers centered on the front.

I really would like to own this one – it was among the best shirts at EURO 2016 and really made a mark there. It is not all perfect, but nearly so.

My rating: 9/10 stars.

How do you rate these shirts?