Wales’ first World Cup in 64 years has seen them don one of the nicest kits this tournament, with the aid of Adidas.
So to now have the players embody a fully recognisable Welsh shirt will see Cymru at least claim the trophy for ‘best dressed’
The subtle green and white trimmings of the shirt help to capture the colours of the Welsh badge and flag. The overwhelming and notorious red fills the kit, with a blurry, faint darker pattern running all the way down the home jersey. The kit was sported in the few international matches leading up to the World Cup, where Adidas and Wales chose to drop the gold lines that accompanied the previous shirt. Many people compared that kit to that of Montenegro and so to now have the players embody a fully recognisable Welsh shirt will see Cymru at least claim the trophy for ‘best dressed.’
Not that the kits are the most important thing about playing football, but when they are as distracting as the Belgian Men’s home strip, they certainly need to be discussed. Sat watching the group stages of the FIFA World Cup 2022 the other day, a red blaze on the TV catches my eye – and no, it wasn’t Kevin De Bruyne darting across the screen. With a red block colour body and black sleeves, the designers at Adidas could have just stopped there. But no. Perhaps as a nod towards their nickname, ‘The Red Devils’, a flame design encroaches up the short sleeves towards the classic Adidas stripes on the shoulders. Black shorts complement the red top, with black socks. But again, the need for flames on the socks, creeping up the legs, highlights the plain effect of the rest of the kit – possibly representing the fiery nature of the international team, possibly just tacky. I personally prefer the understated Belgian Men’s away kit, as despite being white, it still has the little accent of colour that stands out from the rest. However, I guess for the most part, we will all be watching the legends that are Hazard and Lukaku (alongside their teammates) kicking the ball about in Guy Fieri cosplay!
As a proud Dutch person, I always look forward to the release of the national team’s new kit. However, this year’s World Cup kit left me scratching my head somewhat- it’s…yellow? When you think of the Netherlands national team and the Dutch fans, you immediately think of their bold and bright orange kit, no? Clearly Nike wanted to do something a bit different this year, but for me, they just haven’t pulled it off. The shirt features a sort of tie-dyed pattern, which is my favourite part, as according to Nike, it’s supposed to mimic a lion’s mane, presumably as an ode to the lion on the team’s crest. Cool, I love the sentiment of this Nike, but this shirt leans way too yellow for a team known as the ‘Oranje’. The moral of the story is, don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!
I’m not going to lie, England’s main kit this world cup is a miss for me - it’s just a bit ‘meh’. Designed by Nike, the main feature of the shirt is the arch-like blue gradient that sits just by the neckline and fades into a lighter blue on the sleeves. Whilst this adds a focal point to the mostly plain white shirt, for me, it just looks quite awkward. I can see Nike’s direction when designing this, which was to modernise England’s kit, making it perfect for a new generation of England players to wear. However, I think that it would have been better for them to lean into the increasingly popular vintage jersey trend, which was especially on show during the men’s Euros in 2020, when pretty much everyone was sporting the ‘95 shirt. Whilst the kits are definitely not the most important part of the World Cup, it would have been nice to have seen a more fashionable get-up from the England squad. Hopefully their football performance will be more interesting.