One kit. One decade. One impossible choice.
Ranking the best World Cup kits ever is the kind of football conversation that can ruin friendships. Too many shirts, too many eras, too many "what about" arguments. So instead I'm doing it the hard way: one kit per decade, no repeats, no escape clauses. The shirt that defines the era, not just the prettiest one.
Decades don't divide evenly into World Cup cycles. There were two tournaments in the 1930s, none in the 1940s, two in the 1950s, two in the 1960s, three each in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. So this list spans from 1950 onwards because that's where the kit photography starts being good enough to actually argue about.
Each pick is the kit I'd hang on the wall if I could only pick one shirt from that decade. Disagree by all means — you know where the Kit Clash voting page is.
1950s pick: Uruguay 1950 (the Maracanazo shirt)
The decade had two tournaments: Brazil 1950 and Switzerland 1954. The pick is Uruguay's sky-blue celeste, worn as they shocked Brazil in the final round at the Maracanã. The shirt itself is simple — a plain celeste shirt with a small crest — but the meaning is enormous. This is the shirt of the most famous result in football history. The Maracanazo. The reason Brazilian football culture has spent 75 years trying to win a different World Cup to make the wound smaller.
It's the only kit on this list that's primarily famous because of one match. That's enough.
1960s pick: England 1966 (the red away kit)
England wore the red away kit in the 1966 World Cup final because West Germany had the white slot at Wembley. The decision wasn't aesthetic — it was a coin flip — but the result is that the only England kit that's ever lifted a World Cup trophy is the red one. Bobby Moore wiping his hands on the velvet bunting before lifting the Jules Rimet. Geoff Hurst's hat-trick. Kenneth Wolstenholme's "they think it's all over".
The 1966 white home shirt is in every England fan's heart. The 1966 red away shirt is the one that won the trophy. Different things.
1970s pick: Brazil 1970
The most famous football kit ever made. Brazil's yellow shirt at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico — Pelé's last World Cup, Carlos Alberto's goal, the first World Cup ever broadcast in colour. Most football fans alive today decided what football is supposed to look like by watching this team in this shirt on a colour TV. Anyone who's watched a Brazil game since has been measuring it against the 1970 ideal.
The pick was never going to be anything else.
1980s pick: Argentina 1986
Maradona. The Hand of God. The Goal of the Century. Argentina's sky-blue and white striped shirt at Mexico 86 contains more famous football moments per square inch of fabric than any other shirt ever made. Maradona's quarter-final against England — both goals — wearing this exact template. The semi-final against Belgium. The final against West Germany.
The shirt is also Le Coq Sportif's high point as a football kit brand. They don't make Argentina kits any more, which is why every reissue is so collectible.
1990s pick: Nigeria 1994
This pick will annoy France 98 fans, England 90 fans, Cameroon 90 fans, Romania 94 fans and basically every European fan over 30. Sorry. The 1990s belong to Nigeria 1994, the green Adidas shirt with the eagle wings shoulder pattern, the high-cut collar, the ridiculous bold trim. It's the most-replicated shirt of the decade by some distance.
Nigeria's 2018 reissue of this template was one of the most-bought football shirts of all time. Adidas couldn't make them fast enough. The original shirt outsold the modern version on the resale market. That's the only metric that matters here.
2000s pick: Mexico 1998 (close enough)
Yes, 1998 is technically a 1990s shirt, and yes, the Aztec calendar template was worn at France 98. But Mexico actually kept the same template into the 2002 World Cup with minimal updates, and the shirt continued to define Mexico's visual identity throughout the 2000s. So I'm bending the rules.
The 1998 ABA Sport Mexico shirt with the full Aztec calendar across the chest is the boldest design choice ever made for an international football kit. Mexico printed an entire civilisational symbol across the front of a shirt. It should have looked terrible. It looked unbelievable. Still does.
2010s pick: Spain 2010
Champions on debut. Iniesta's goal. The deep red Adidas Spain shirt with the gold star above the crest is the cleanest tournament-winning kit of the modern era. Tiki-taka peak. Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Casillas. The first European nation to win a World Cup outside Europe. Every Spain shirt since has been measured against this one.
You could argue for Germany 2014 instead — Götze's volley, Mineirão, Brazil's collapse — but the Germany shirt is fine, not iconic. The 2010 Spain shirt is iconic.
2020s pick: Argentina 2022
Reigning champions. Three stars. Messi's redemption. The 2022 Argentina home shirt at Qatar — the one Messi lifted the trophy in — is the defining football kit of this decade so far. Even before Argentina won, the shirt was selling. After they won, it broke every retail kit record in football history.
Adidas added the third star to the crest. The shirt is still in production. The retail price has gone up since the win. People are still queueing.
Honourable mentions, by decade
- 1950s: Hungary 1954, the Magic Magyars shirt. Lost the final but defined attacking football for a generation.
- 1960s: Brazil 1958 (technically 50s) and 1962. Pelé's first two World Cup wins.
- 1970s: Netherlands 1974. Total Football and the Cruyff turn. The most famous loser shirt ever.
- 1980s: Denmark 1986 — the Hummel half-and-half template. The bravest design choice of the decade.
- 1990s: France 1998, the home tournament winner. So clean it almost won the decade pick.
- 2000s: Italy 2006, the Berlin champions. Cannavaro lifting the cup in azure blue.
- 2010s: Germany 2014. The Mineirão shirt. Götze's volley. The cleanest white modern Germany template.
- 2020s: Morocco 2022. Semi-finalists. Most-bought African shirt in European football.
Where to buy any of these now
Almost every retro football shirt mentioned here is available on Amazon UK or Classic Football Shirts. The prices range from £40 for low-end remakes to £200+ for original-era shirts in good condition. The 1986 Argentina, 1994 Nigeria and 1970 Brazil shirts all carry collector premiums.
The full Best World Cup Kits Ever ranking covers 25 of these classics with direct buying links to both Amazon and Classic Football Shirts.
Disagree with the decade picks? Build your own ranking in the Kit Tier List or settle the argument vote-by-vote in Kit Clash.