Top 100 Football Shirts of 2020/21 - (Part One: 100-91)
Hold onto your hats, folks. It’s time for the biggest football shirt countdown of the year.
After a long summer of rumours, leaks and inevitable “drops”, most of next season’s kits have now been released. Brands have served up an all-you-can-eat buffet of striking patterns and bold colourways, filling our plates with a generous helping of stunning masterpieces and blood-curdling horror shows.
Now that this tide of releases has settled down, we can finally take a moment to breathe it all in. More specifically, it gives us the chance to do what we’ve been itching to do since the end of last year: rank the 100 best football shirts of 2020.
Yeah, this shirt countdown is so comprehensive it borders on outright silliness, but we won’t be doing it alone. Picking out the best shirts will always result in disagreements, exaggerated scoffing and (in more extreme cases) a bit of eye-poking, so we’ve brought together a team of experts to help settle the arguments.
This is the Top 100 Shirts of 2020/21, featuring comments and opinions from: Ellis Platten, Gavin Hope, John Devlin, Kit Crimes, Museum of Jerseys, Pedro Almeida, Phil Delves, The Kitsman and, of course, FOOTY.COM. Let’s start climbing the mountain.
This is Part 1 of 10. Explore the rest of the countdown:
100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
100. Brighton & Hove Albion - Home
This is so close to real greatness. Brighton’s switch to pinstripes is sharp, fresh and unexpected, and Nike are within a hair’s breadth of completely hitting the nail on the head. It’s just such a shame that the stripes break up on the back and around the sponsor, even if this is still the best Brighton kit I’ve seen in a very long time (Seagulls fans probably don’t agree).
- Ben Hyde, FOOTY.COM.
In today's football kit world, it's actually pretty easy to 'shock' or be controversial with an adventurous colour scheme or outrageous pattern (Manchester United third kit anyone?). It's perhaps harder to bring out a fairly mainstream design that still manages to cause an uneasy ripple amongst a club's fanbase.
This latter is what Nike have achieved at The Amex this year with their latest Brighton & Hove Albion kit. The shirt that sees the club's traditional stripes mothballed (much to the disapproval of supporters) in favour of a return to the briefly popular all blue, pinstriped jersey that the side wore in the early 80s. Given Nike's recent fondness for sleek, modernist templates, it's curious that this shirt, amongst others in their roster, brings back an old school collar complete with button and minimalist placket.
Flashes of gold provide a welcome flash of contrasting colour on the sides of the shirt and shorts although, oddly, navy is preferred as a tertiary trim on the socks. Although the club's fans have called the design 'outdated' and expressed their annoyance at the collar, to the neutral, the outfit feels slick and elegant and brings a freshness to the recent Seagulls' kit canon.
- John Devlin, True Colours Kits.
99. Zenit Saint Petersburg - Home
Nike’s collared template has been put to good use this season by many teams, and this Russian model is another example of how it should look. The simple, cascading blue hue is easy on the eye and continues to wrap around the back, which is a rare but welcome detail for me.
I’m a fan of the classy crest too, with one solitary star adding a dash of gold. I am, though, choosing to ignore the Earth’s resource-sapping sponsor on this one...
- Kevan Thorpe, FOOTY.COM.
Compare prices on Zenit shirts
98. Fleetwood Town - Away
I’m not gonna lie to you and say this had my eyes popping out of their sockets, but Fleetwood should be pretty happy with this year’s away kit. Even though it feels like we’ve seen this kind of pattern before, this shirt has actually been tailor-made for the Cod Army, introducing a really interesting colour palette along the way.
The mention of greys and minty greens probably won’t get the pulse racing, but these shades actually work quite well together here. It might not be anything really special, but this is still different enough to be interesting - and that fantastic monochrome crest probably helps matters.
- Ben Hyde, FOOTY.COM.
97. Finland - Home
What a difference 4 years makes.
Nike have flipped the script, going from being the pariah in the shirt world as an example of all that was bad in kits in 2016, to the driving force behind many of the best international releases in 2020.
Though Finland’s new home didn’t generate the headlines that Nigeria, South Korea or Norway did, it remains a shirt that typifies Nike’s new approach. Take an instantly recognisable element (in this case, the Finnish flag) and add a dose of intrigue (a lovely gradient). Nothing more, nothing less.
It’s a good recipe.
- Phil Delves.
Compare prices on Finland shirts
96. Werder Bremen - Away
Pastel hues are definitely 'in' this season and the new Werder Bremen Umbro away kit employs them beautifully to create this smooth, sophisticated design as part of their third set of kits since arriving at the Weserstadion in 2018.
Gradated, geometric shapes in ice green (notably a lighter shade than that on the home shirt) adorn the raglan sleeves and the white jersey is topped off with a standard Umbro truncated neck construction that bears a resemblance to some of adidas' recent efforts.
Apparently, the shirt has been informed by a 'consideration for off-pitch wearability' which sounds very much to me like a contemporary interpretation of 'looks good with jeans'. The silhouette of the strip is of course Umbro perfection and ice green shorts and socks complement the overall design with real panache.
- John Devlin, True Colours Kits.
Compare prices on Werder Bremen shirts
95. Plymouth Argyle - Away
The penny has finally dropped at Ginsters HQ. The famed pastie merchants are into their second spell sponsoring the club and they’ve often had their large red blob (sorry, logo) on the shirts and it spoiled things a little, but 2020-21 sees their name rendered in simple white and black and the away kit benefits from this more subtle approach.
It’s a shirt very similar to the one Plymouth had at home 20 years ago, plus pinstripes is a design the club used in the 1980s. There are numerous opportunities to seamlessly mix elements of the home, away and third kits if required, which is always pleasing.
- Kit Crimes.
94. England - Home
England have had better kits, but they’ve had a lot worse too. The 1997-99 Umbro strip is cited as the inspiration for this one, hence the centralised logos, which do look rather dated, but having the crest above the Nike swoosh is a nice touch. Will it be seen as a classic in 20 or even five years? No, but the colours are correct and the design isn’t hideous, and those two things aren’t always present in a kit.
I’ve seen a lot of people grumble about the new England kit, and I’m not really sure why. Nike have freshened up the look and sent us back to World Cup ‘98 in the process, and I’m not ashamed to say the typeface had me drooling at the TV screen a few weeks ago. It’s a shirt made ten times better by the font, to be honest with you.
- Ben Hyde, FOOTY.COM.
Compare prices on England shirts
93. Corinthians - Away
The first of many South American shirts in our list is from the club deemed the ‘fathers of Brazilian football’, Corinthians of São Paulo. You’d probably get away with this strip on a night out, it’s genuinely that sharp. A plain Nike template made to work extremely hard.
A full black base helps to accentuate the midsize, clean white pinstripe pattern. The iconic Time do Povo oars and anchor badge sits proudly in a standout red, making it a very stylish effort indeed.
- Kevan Thorpe, FOOTY.COM.
Compare prices on Corinthians shirts
92. Faroe Islands - Away
Back in 2017, Macron partnered with UEFA to help out with their Kit Assistance Scheme. The scheme aims to help some of the smaller European nations get help with kit contracts, but Macron took it a step further. Macron felt that each nation deserved a bespoke shirt that told a story and respected their traditions.
What Macron came out with for these smaller nations were fantastic and this season’s Faroe Islands away shirt is one of the best. The Faroe Islands badge can be seen on the beautiful collar and cuffs which stand out against the lovely, navy shirt. The body is made up of small, embossed crosses and diagonal lines and, on the back, there is an embossed image of the 18 islands that make up the Faroe Islands.
The whole shirt looks smart and fresh. It fully deserves a place on this top 100 list.
91. Scunthorpe United - Third
In their first season of the club's new kit deal with Macron, the Italian manufacturer has delivered some fantastic kits for the Irons, the third kit, in particular, stands out with its claret and blue vertical stripe running through the club crest.
A design element we have seen with Macron shirts in the past, but in the current season the only one of its kind in English professional football. So, not only being unique, the elements of claret used on the side panels (and across the shoulders) and a deep collar/neckline in blue, gives the shirt a degree of balance in this “A-symmetric” design! An excellent start of this partnership and showing that great design does continue into the lower leagues.
- Gavin Hope, Football Kit Geek.
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This is Part 1 of 10. Explore the rest of the countdown:
100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
