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.
Outside of the giants Mexico and USA, Costa Rica are surely the most successful team from the CONCACAF region. They are regular participants at the World Cup as well as a berth in the second round of thr 1990 World Cup. The Ticos also received some worldwide attention by featuring n the 2006 opening game against hosts Germany. With all that, I think it would be unfair to consider them rank outsiders. Also, have in mind that they finished a trong runner-up in qualifying.
As for the Tico’s home shirt, it features pretty much the same design as the away shirt, we looked at previously. As expected, the shirt is mainly red with blue accents, most prominently the flash across the chest which is connected again to blue patches on the shoulders by golden strings (less visible though this time). The blue collar has a white front which (given the white outlines around the blue panels) looks somewhat like unifinished business.
As was to be expected, the front number is applied in white on the right side below the flash. Frankly, due to the flash being kind of shallow, it makes things look quite imbalanced since the number falls conisderably lower than the crest. Also, the number is quite large compared toe other features.
Likelihood of being featured: 100% vs. Uruguay: 40%
vs. Italy: 1% (Should be 0%, but I leave 1% just to allow for some error)
vs. England: 99% (same as above, just reversed)
I already was not a fan of the flash, but the way it forces the number down just ruins it for me. Lotto can do better! At least the colors are what we would expect. I think if it had more of a lying S shape to it, the whole thing cold have been salvaged, but this way it just looks odd. Add the golden strings and this looks more like a draft than a fully crafted shirt. Overall, my conclusions pretty much remain the same as for the away jersey.
So far, we have only seen home jerseys, but Costa Rica will most likely don their away jersey in the opening game against Uruguay. True, in the 2010 playoffs both teams played in their home jerseys, but given FIFA’s kit police, I think the smart money is on the away kit which is provided by Italian company Lotto Sports. While the company used to make some splash on the club scene (former suppliers for Milan and Juventus amongst others) it has kept a comparatively low profile in international soccer and is only supplying one team at this World Cup.
Since Lotto has previously had some debatable designs, I looked forward to this one and in a sense I was not disappointed: we have a very unique design again. The white jersey is accented with Costa Rica’s national colors: red and blue. The latter takes an understated role in form of the sleeve trims and the front panel of the collar. Speaking of which, the collar is indeed very unique and reminds me more of a jewel necklace with its distinct panels of varying sizes (increasing towards the back) and mostly in red. Not sure, but it could well be that it was inspired by Pre-Columbian tribes. However, the most prominent feature of the shirt is the very prominent red flash across the chest. Truly unique. Due to its diagonal shape it actually forces the manufacturer’s logo to be featured on the center of the chest while the federation’s logo is cradled by the flash. The number will be placed on the right just below the flash, and I would expect it to be blue. Unfortunately, it will disbalance the front. Red patches also feature on the side of the collar which are connected to the flash by golden threads (lacking a better word for it). This feature makes the shirt actually look truly awkward. As with previous jerseys, I don’t have much reliable information on the back side of this jersey, namely the style of the names and numbers.
Likelihood of being featured: 100% vs. Uruguay: 60%
vs. Italy: 99% (Should be 100%, but I leave 1% just to allow for some error)
vs. England: 1% (same as above, just reversed)
What shall I say? The design is a bit too flashy for my taste. It is OK that Lotto and Costa Rica (being mere underdogs in their respective battles) wish to stand out, but a bit more restraint could have delivered a better jersey. Namely the pattern on the shoulders should have been scratched and probably some trimming on the flash would not have hurt.
My Soccer Universe 
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