Top Unis at the World Cup

Every World Cup there is a ton of buzz about each team's uniforms because everyone knows that you can't expect to win if you don't look fresh. Nike and Adidas are also well aware that suiting up countries like France or Germany in a swaggy kit will pay dividends in the long run. The World Cup also affords viewers the opportunity to peep unis made by small, local, manufacturers like Errea who make Iceland's kit and Uhlsport who hooks it up for Tunisia. After carefully examining the home and away uniforms of every World Cup team, the sport sesh has comprised the following comprehensive top three kit rankings. Overall, teams sporting Nike-made unis generally looked better than countries wearing Puma and Adidas. Adidas missed the mark this summer as they really forced the '80s throwback theme, which seems cool in theory, but the execution was piss poor and the jerseys look like cheap warm up shirts. Belgium appears to have bared the brunt of Adidas's misguided retro failure as they look awful in their argyle-chested red shirts, and even worse in their 1984 Euro inspired mustard yellow away jerseys. One positive jersey development was that Puma has backed off from the skin tight uniforms they issued four years ago in Brazil, which looked bizarre and made me feel uncomfortable. The most glaring issue with the kits at this year’s World Cup is that no country rocked Kappa. This is pretty shocking considering Kappa is the swaggiest jersey maker in sports and the fact that they didn’t get any World Cup love breaks my heart. Hoping Italy will support the local economy and step up to the plate in four years and don the back-to-back ladies.

BEST OVERALL

1. Senegal (white): Top kits from Puma. African countries generally have pretty sweet unis, primarily because they all have awesome nicknames – ex: Senegal are “The Lions of Teranga.” This summer’s edition of their white uniforms was as fresh as ever and features a subtle lion face silhouette across the front.

2. Croatia (red/white and navy/black both fire): Croatia’s red/white checkered home jerseys have become iconic and Nike did a good job of keeping the status quo with the World Cup editions of these jerseys by not doing too much and deviating from the base design. Croatia debuted a new away kit in Russia and its fire. Nike took Croatia’s home jersey’s checkered template and changed the colors to navy and black with red numbers that pop. Croatia has been one of the more dominant teams at the tournament and are exhibit A for the argument that you have to look good to play good.

3. Poland (white): The allure of Poland’s kits lies in their simplicity. I prefer the white kit over the red, but they’re basically identical except for the color. Less is more with Poland’s unis and their all-white look is clean and complimented by the red background behind their crest (think off-color nameplates on the backs of hockey jerseys. Nike did a great job of keeping Poland’s design simple but unique enough to stand out from crowd.

Honorable Mention: South Korea (white)

BEST CLASSIC KIT

1. Argentina (striped): I’m a sucker for baby blue and Argentina has always done their unis right. Argentina’s white/sky blue horizontally striped home kits are globally recognizable and have remained relatively unchanged for decades. I love that Adidas forced their ‘80s throwback theme on all of their clients, but didn’t try to meddle with Argentina’s home shirts.

2. Peru (both equally fire): First of all, shout out to Peru’s football association for using Umbro as their kit provider – good to see Umbro back in the mix. Second of all, Umbro did not disappoint. Similar to Poland, the swagger of Peru’s uniforms lends itself to the classical simplicity of the design. For some unexplainable reason the all-white shirts with the red diagonal stripe across the chest is sleek and modern, but also retro and classic at the same time. Like Argentina, Peru has been sporting basically the same uniform design for decades, but their comparative lack of international success means that these gems have been largely hidden from the general public around the World. These are some of the most underrated kits in the World Cup.

3. Brazil (yellow): It’s impossible to make this list and not include Brazil. Brazil’s classic yellow top and blue shorts combination is as iconic as any uniform in sports and has remained unaltered since they were implemented in 1954 after they fell, on home turf, to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final wearing a different color scheme.  There’s an undeniable aura that surrounds the Brazilian national team and their classic kits play an important role. Their uniforms intimidate opponents and illicit excitement from fans and are arguably the most recognizable in the world.

Honorable Mention: Tunisia

BEST HOME/AWAY COMBO

1. Croatia: See above

2. Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia may not have been the most skilled team in the tournament, but at least they looked fresh while they were getting waxed. Nike hooked the Saudis up with simple all-white and all-green versions of the same jersey, but it worked effortlessly. The numbers on the front popped and worked well with Saudi Arabia’s low-key awesome crest. Saudi Arabia’s poor performance on the field may have overshadowed their killer kits, but the world deserves to know about probably the most underrated uniforms in the tournament.

3. Nigeria: I mentioned earlier that African teams usually have pretty swaggy unis, and this certainly holds true for Nigeria. Courtesy of Nike, the Super Eagles debuted probably the boldest new kit in Russia with their light green/white serrated stripe home uniform. These unique unis generated arguably the most jersey buzz of any of the kits at the World Cup, but I actually prefer their away uniforms. The solid forest green tops and bottoms are in stark contrast to their vivacious home uniforms, but the neon green numbers and accents coupled with Nigeria’s super solid crest tie the kit together.

Honorable Mention: Japan