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The most beautiful jerseys ever at the EUROs

All the kits that have changed the aesthetic rules of continental competition

The most beautiful jerseys ever at the EUROs All the kits that have changed the aesthetic rules of continental competition

The European championships have always represented an important aesthetic moment in world football and in most of the editions there have been jerseys that have marked the stylistic culture of a national team. In the sixteen versions from 1960 to today, each brand that has participated in the continental competition has added a piece that has made the beauty of European jerseys eternal. The 90s remain the golden age of soccer jerseys and if on the one hand the USA94 World Cup has changed the aesthetic laws of football, on the other EURO96 represents the pinnacle of European style. Nike, adidas, Umbro and Lotto have interpreted to the maximum a style whose evolution has as its fundamental stage the edition won by Germany. In the moment of greatest hype for EURO2020, we retraced the history of the competition and selected ten jerseys that made the history of EUROs.

 

Italy | Nike, EURO 96

The blue shirt has always had an incredible charm and one of the best versions belongs to a European championship. The 1996 version worn by Maldini, Del Piero, Casiraghi and Albertini was made by Nike, sponsor of the Italian national team from 1995 to 1998. It will be the first jersey made by the American brand, even if the Swoosh will not appear on the kit. The gold details and perhaps the most beautiful FIGC logo make a shirt from the past unique and inimitable.

 

West Germany | adidas, EURO 88

Two editions before the one that changed the aesthetic history of the EURO, West Germany takes the pitch with the most iconic design for both adidas and the national team at the time of Beckenbauer in the CT version. It will be the absolute debut of the German flag declined with the geometric shapes typical of the competition logos from 1960 until 1992. It will be a winning European for Germany of Brehme, Matthaus, Voeller and Klinsmann who will keep the same pattern until 1991.

 

England | Umbro, EURO 96

The battle for the best jersey in the history of the English national team is very close, but among the top three there is almost always the one produced by Umbro and used in the home European championship by the national team of the Three Lions. The team that technically belongs to Alan Sherear but that ideally and emotionally belongs to Gazza Gascoigne. Aesthetically, the English brand chooses light blue to complete the kits of one of the most disappointing national teams in English history - outing in the semifinals against Germany.

 

France | adidas, EURO 84

Another step back in time, until 1984 when Platini's France became European champions wearing the French jersey par excellence. Produced by adidas - kit supplier of the Blues from 1972 to 2010 - the blue jersey with white stripes and a red band that recalls the French flag. It will be a European dominated by France who raises the cup in the final at home by beating the Spanish national team. It will be considered one of the most elegant kits in all the great rankings of the best jerseys in the history of football.

Netherlands | Nike, EURO 2004

EURO 2000 is another milestone of indisputable value within the aesthetic evolution of the national team jerseys. Nike approach to the new millennium with a template - T90 - which will soon become immortal and will be worn by almost all Nike teams. No one, however, will dress him as stylishly as the Orange of the European Championship played at home - halfway up against Belgium. The Netherlands of Seedorf, Davids and Ruud van Nistelrooij for the Italians will always be the victim of the most famous spoon in European history, but they will also be one of the best teams to have worn a Nike masterpiece.

 

Croatia | Lotto, EURO 96

It's literally impossible not to include Croatia when it comes to shirts that have made history. In every corner of the world, the checkered design is immediately associated with the Croatian national team and the edition brought to EURO 96 is one of the best versions. The national team of Zvonimir Boban, Alen Bokšić and Davor Šuker will stop in the quarters but thanks to Lotto will take chess design to another level.

 

Sweden | adidas, EURO 92

Among the big players seen so far there is also space for a national team like Sweden. adidas will sponsor the Swiss team from 1974 to 2003 and then resume ten years later after the Umbrian parenthesis. At EURO92 the German brand will choose to lend Tommy Svensson's national team a template that will debut on the Bayern Munich shirt and which will be used on iconic Premier League jerseys (such as Liverpool 1991-93). The yellow and blue of Sweden will create an effect that will become memorable for the national team that will host the 1992 edition and that will reach the semifinals.

 

Portugal | Nike, EURO 2000

In Portugal there is a pre-CR7 and post-CR7 era, also aesthetically. Before ending up on the shoulders of the Juventus center forward, the #7 belonged to Luis Figo in style, elegance and quality, the man who in 2000 wore what for many is the best jersey in the history of the Portuguese national team. The amaranth perfectly echoed by the logo, the yellow details and the green shorts create a stunningly beautiful kit that will accompany that team until the semi-finals, lost 2-1 against France.

 

Belgium | adidas, EURO 84

The journey between the brands in this ranking brings us back to adidas, this time on the Belgium side. The national team that has all the cards on the table to win the 2020 edition was an example of great style already in the 80s. The jerseys that the three stripes brought to EURO84 are the best examples of Belgian aesthetics, viscerally linked to tradition and therefore to the colors of the flag and the national team logo. The away version in white will be one of the first examples of geometric mixes on soccer jerseys, while the home in red has been taken up by the national team in recent years.

 

Scotland | Umbro, EURO 96

Last but not least, Scotland and its tradition. Umbro registered at EURO96, the Scottish national team brings to the field one of the nation's symbolic stylistic elements: tartan. There is only one letter of difference between kit and kilt, but for the Scotland shirt there seems to be nothing different. Shorts have become a must and every Scot who has managed to get their hands on this kit defends it as if it were the Holy Grail. A perfect interpretation of how the culture of a people is brought to a football pitch.