Tintin tribute, Barbie-pink at Euro 2024…which football kit is the best? Jersey-expert weighs in

“They are totems,” Neal Heard, a football shirt expert, consultant and exhibition curator, tells The Indian Express. “If you then put them on the nationhood, they become sacrosanct because you’re saying this is exactly who we are. This is the national brand. The brands who are making these have a tough job because if anywhere football fans are more conservative, it’s the national team,” Heard says.

Staring at the catalog for the upcoming European Championships, the author of ‘The Football Shirts Book – A Connoisseurs Guide’ is largely impressed. “Not all are amazing but there are enough good ones,” Heard concedes before picking his favorites.

“Belgium away, based on the Tintin story, is a really cool one. France – hands down, the best footballing nation in kits – home and away are probably my favorites. Even Germany away is quite nice. As is England away. Actually, I adore that one.” Looks a bit like the French home kit, doesn’t it. “It does. Same sort of color. They’re referencing a track suit, funnily enough, an iconic one from ’66-’70.”

Neal Heard, a football shirt expert, consultant and exhibition curator believes football kits are totems.

Heard however, believes that kits in the contemporary era can be bolder.

Speaking over a video call from Wales, he turns behind to access his 400-shirt strong collection and handpicks two – Germany and Holland from 1988 Euros. “Both these jerseys are quite bold even though they’re paying homage to the tradition,” says Heard.

A sneaker-like market

£1000. That’s how much a replica of the Dutch kit Heard is holding costs currently. “Not match worn, just the replica,” he presses. “If it was match worn, you’ll be talking millions.”

The gigantic size of the football shirts market can be gauged better through one half of it. Heard equates the retro shirts market in itself to that of the trainers/sneakers. Classic Football Shirts, the biggest players in the game were recently offered private equity of £38 million. “Not to buy the brand, just to actually come and take it to the next level.”

Heard tracks the beginning of the obsession back to the 1970s with an increase in the number of traveling fans in the two hotbeds of world football – Europe and South America. “In the 70s, teams were traveling in Europe or even with the Intercontinental World Cup, which was a really exotic thing. Once the fans started going to another place, they began swapping kits with one another.” A popular culture that extends to the players.

An even bigger development has taken place in the last decade with football shirts becoming a strong fashion product.

Heard explains, “You’ve got the team badge; they can be more visually appealing than one another’s. Then the maker’s logo. Nike, Adidas or Puma, there are people who specifically love those brands. And then, there are sponsors on the chest. Sometimes they can be a bit more prosaic, like a betting firm which is less attractive, but if you get a really good sponsor on the chest, you’ve got a treble whammy of brands and logos. I’d say they are one of the most strong-branded things that you’ll ever find.”

Heard’s 400 shirt strong collection includes the rarest of football treasures including a 1988 Netherlands home kit replica. (Photo: Neal Heard)

The Connoisseur believes a significant credit of the new appropriation of football shirts goes to football backwaters – India, Australia, Korea, and definitely America. “They are the drivers of this fashion thing. Countries who don’t have a 150-year-old backlog of knowing everything about the sport. Most football fans in Europe wear a kit to a game or while playing five-a-side. People in America don’t have that sort of loyalty associated with the kits. That appropriation of football shirts essentially drove them to being a fashion item.”

What makes a kit stand out?

Does it take a big tournament triumph for a football shirt to be revered? It certainly adds to the aura. “The ones which are kind of the apex tick both boxes – an amazing kit coupled with team success. Holland won the Euros in that amazing shirt in ‘88.”

But then there’s Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup. A team who were knocked out of the group stage but a kit that had the consensus of being “the best” at the tournament. Similarly, some of the Mexico kits have stood out despite underwhelming outings at World Cups.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates with the trophy after winning the World Cup. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Talking about the other side of the spectrum, Heard believes that even winning a major trophy sometimes may not ensure that a kit goes down well in history. “Thinking back to when Argentina won the World Cup. They obviously wore the blue and white – because that’s what they do wear – but was it an amazing shirt? Will I remember it? I won’t. Using Maradona as a reference, when Argentina won that World Cup (1986) having that massive le coq sportif logo, I think everybody would remember that jersey.”

Need for outsiders

“I’m kind of waiting for somebody to release that kit where I go….wow,” Heard says. The kind that leaves him in an awe similar to what those two classics from the 80s did. He takes us to the Adidas designer labs in the decade. The story goes that when Horst Dassler, son of the German company’s founder Adi Dassler, was designing the Germany and Holland kits, rather than working with professionals in their labs, he went to a local art college in search of a new designer. “He got an outsider, someone who looked at things with fresh eyes. And that’s how they came out with those amazing kits.”

Heard believes it is no coincidence that two of the most iconic football kits were designed by a woman. “It’s no accident that the Women’s World Cup had vastly better kits. Because it was coming from the women’s aesthetic, a little bit more freer and fashion led design. I wish they could bring some of that thinking for the men’s game,” he says.

It rarely happens that a bold-unique design is accepted instantly by the majority. “The 90s kits are really hot because that’s that generation of kids that have become adults now. They look back to the kits they had growing up, once they maybe couldn’t afford at the time. Something that is certainly going to happen is that we will move to kits of the early 2000s.” The fresher takes from Germany and England this summer can expect history to be much kinder to them.