The 25 Best World Cup Kits Ever Made

The yellow shirt every other yellow shirt is measured against. Pelé. Carlos Alberto's goal. The first World Cup ever broadcast in colour, watched by a generation that decided this is what football is supposed to look like.

The shirt that broke the entire international kit market when its 2018 reissue dropped. Eagle wings, three stripes, neon green pattern. The original is one of the most-replicated football kits in shirt history.

Maradona. The Hand of God. The Goal of the Century. One World Cup, two of the most famous moments ever filmed, both wearing this exact shirt. The vertical sky-blue and white stripes haven't aged a day.

Technically a Euros shirt, not a World Cup shirt — but the Dutch wore it through Italia 90 too, so it counts. The diamond pattern Total Football kit. Van Basten's volley. The Oranje at peak elegance.

Italia 90. Gazza. Pavarotti. Penalties. The shirt that made an entire generation of English fans love World Cup football. Thick collar, navy shadow pattern, classic Three Lions crest. Still one of the cleanest England shirts ever made.

The black-red-yellow chevron sash on white. Wore this through their 1990 World Cup win in Italy. Probably the most copied tournament-winner shirt in football history — every Germany shirt since has been measured against it.

The Aztec calendar shirt. Possibly the boldest design choice ever made for an international football kit. Mexico printed an entire civilisational symbol across the chest of a shirt and somehow it just works.

Champions on home soil. Zidane. The Headers. The shirt of an entire generation of French football. Navy blue, red and white tricolour panels, the cleanest possible cut. France's golden era starts here.

The first ever Croatia World Cup shirt — and instantly one of the most recognisable international templates ever. The red and white šahovnica checkerboard. Šuker's six goals. Third place on debut.

Ronaldo's redemption shirt. The phenomenon haircut. Five World Cups. The Nike Brazil home shirt that shifted modern international kit design from boxy templates to slim performance fits.

Champions in Berlin. Cannavaro lifting the trophy. The Azzurri at peak Materazzi/Pirlo era. Deep azure blue, gold scudetto trim, one of the most premium-feeling international shirts of the 21st century.

Tiki-taka peak. Iniesta's winner. Spain's first World Cup. Deep red home shirt with the gold star above the crest of a defending champion. Aged perfectly because the football inside it was perfect.

The sleeveless Cameroon vest. FIFA banned it. Puma reissued it as a one-piece. The most iconic kit-design rebellion in modern football history and one of the most-collected shirts of the early 2000s.

One of the great lost football shirts. The blue Yugoslavia template with diagonal stripes — the Stojković/Pancev/Savićević generation that became Croatia / Serbia / Bosnia. A piece of football history.

Half-and-half red and white pinstripe template by Hummel. Worn by the Danish Dynamite generation. One of the most distinctive kits ever produced for a major tournament — and basically zero modern kits dare to be this brave.

The CCCP era. Bright Soviet red, the hammer and sickle crest, peak Cold War football. Wore it to the 1988 Euros final and into Italia 90. One of the great geopolitical football kits ever made.

Higuita's scorpion kick. The Valderrama hair. The yellow Colombia home with the simple black trim — one of the most distinctive South American kits of the era and a permanent fan favourite.

The Sócrates/Zico/Falcão Brazil that didn't win but probably should have. The tightest yellow shirt of the era and the team most football romantics call the best Brazil side ever. Beautiful losers, immortal shirt.

Hagi era. The yellow Romania home shirt with the iconic 90s template. Romania reached the quarter-finals of USA 94 with one of the best squads in their history. Cult kit collector territory.

Famously divisive. The 'denim' shirt with the wavy stars and stripes pattern. People thought it was ugly in 1994 and have been re-evaluating it ever since. Now considered one of the great cult host-nation kits ever made.

The sashiko-pattern blue Japan home shirt that quietly outdid every other 2018 World Cup design. Adidas at peak Japan-collab — material, pattern, narrative all working together.

Atlas Lions. Semi-finalists. The deep red home shirt with the green star that became one of the most-bought African kits in European stores. The shirt of the most surprising World Cup run in modern history.

Senegal's debut World Cup, where they beat France in the opening game. Instant African football culture moment. The kit became a collector item the same week.

Co-hosts. Semi-finalists. The bright red Taeguk Warriors home shirt that the entire country wore for six weeks. Still the best Asian World Cup performance ever and the kit that goes with it.

Hosts of the 1986 World Cup. Quarter-finalists on home soil. The classic green Mexico shirt with the three white Adidas stripes on the shoulders. Aged perfectly.