Why is the new Italian National team kit green?

If the Italian National team over the years has acquired the nickname of the Azzurri, the reason is related to the color of the shirt, chosen in 1911 because of the blue present in the banner of the royal house of the Savoy. Next season the Azzurri will wear a green jersey, which was officially presented today by PUMA and will make its debut on Saturday 12 October during the Euro 2020 qualifying match against Greece. The choice of PUMA and of the FIGC will probably divide the fans but it's a courageous attempt that has its roots in a particular episode of more than 50 years ago and in the desire of rebirth of the Italian football movement. The green shirt will be the Home shirt until March, when it will be officially revealed the new Home shirt - surely azzurra - and the green one will become the third kit.

Since 1910 the traditional kit has remained almost the same: in addition to blue, the other color that is always present in the history of the National team was white, the color of the shirt with which Italy played the first ever game in 1910, used both for the shorts and for the Away shirt. Sometimes black was also adopted, first for socks, then as the main color during the fascist period, strongly supported by Benito Mussolini, then again on the shorts on the occasion of the 1966 World Cup. The traditional shirt had other small exceptions on other occasions: in 1994 the Under 21 team played in Caltanissetta with the yellow-red jersey of the local team of Nissa, due to a mistake that interested the rival team of Croatia; in more recent times instead, and precisely in 2009, the major team used for the Confederations Cup a strange light blue and burgundy outfit.

The choice of the green color is linked to a historic game of 1954: on December 5th Italy played at the Olimpico in Rome a friendly match against Argentina wearing a brand new green kit, the same that the German brand take as inspiration to celebrate the future of the Italian football movement, full of young people but still looking for a solidity that has been missing for 15 years.

The graphic inside the shirt is instead a motif inspired by the Renaissance period, just what PUMA hopes the Italian movement can relive soon. With the new green jersey the Roberto Mancini's National team will play on Saturday 12 October, also this time at the Olimpico stadium in Rome, the Euro 2020 qualifying game against Greece, 65 years after that first and only time. The green color was used also other few times, but only for youth team matches. In addition to green, the shirt has dark blue inserts, in the collar and in the end of the sleeves.