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The football shirt frenzy is everywhere. With the Women's World Cup underway here in Australia and domestic leagues in Europe about to begin their long seasons, more than ever you need to have a shirt in your wardrobe.
Firstly, they're comfortable, and if street style galleries are anything to go by, they're incredibly versatile. With tailored trousers, sweatpants, a long skirt or, naturally, with baggy jeans and worn-out sneakers. Vintage jerseys have exploded in popularity in recent years as people look to feel like they've been supporting a team for longer than they actually have. But on the fashion side, designers like Wales Bonner, Martine Rose and even Stussy are bringing a stylish twist to team branding.
As the hype around fashion football shirts grows, we often forget that every season, real clubs release wearable shirts. And while they're not yet worthy of joining the "classics," they are the vintage shirts that have stood the test of time and help drive the hype today. We are talking about the 1990/91 Napoli home shirt, with the famous sponsor 'Mars', or the Japan shirt for the 1997/98 period with flame decorations on the sleeve. The list goes on.
But with the '23/'24 season about to begin, we thought we'd try and rank some of the shirts released so far - based on how easy they are to wear if you're not a fan, and whether they have what it takes to break into the top "classics" like the shirts that preceded them. Let's go.
10 best football shirts for the '23/'24 season:
Image credit: Adidas, instagram/afcajax
1. Ajax Third
- Inspired by precious gems, this Ajax shirt is a masterpiece. With a diamond pattern, it has the feel and wearability of a retro design, but at the same time looks very modern. Perfect use of graphics, elegant lookbook à la Uncut Gems, and the story behind the design are just a bonus. Full mark.
Image credit: Manchester United
- With the new Devil logo, this Manchester United shirt is all white, all elegant, with red details and the devil prominently on the chest. It has all the potential to become a classic in the coming years.
Image credit: AS Roma
3. AS Roma Home
- Replacing the club's classic badge with a vintage wolf motif, this AS Roma shirt is immaculate, currently without a sponsor. Stripes and a wolf. This shirt was inspired by the one worn between 1992/94, when the sponsor was the well-known pasta brand, Barilla. Seeing José Mourinho wearing this will be incredible.
Image credit: Fiorentina
4. Fiorentina Home
- Fiorentina's Tuscan team is one of the few that uses the color purple. It's not necessarily the easiest color to wear, but when it comes to wearing a shirt off the field, it's important to stand out. Bonus points for making purple look even more regal. Produced by vintage kit specialist Kappa, the shirt features an elegant collar and a classic repeating motif.
Image credit: Instagram/veneziafc
5. Venezia Home
- Italian leagues are consistent in terms of style, although success on the field can vary. But they look good. The Venezia shirt, black, with gold details on the collar and a minimal red and orange stripe on the front, exudes class.
Image credit: Real Betis
6. Real Betis Away
- With no shortage of collectible kits in the archives, Seville club Real Betis have delivered yet another winning away shirt. All green, with a contrasting chevron pattern in the background, it's yet another example of a club doing the right thing by taking inspiration from past successes. If you need inspiration on how to style this, just wait until the most stylish football player, Héctor Bellerín, posts a photo with his, and you'll be ready.
Image credit: Chelsea
7. Chelsea Home
- Speaking of sponsors, could we get rid of them completely? Chelsea's home kit has dropped sponsor '3', and although a replacement is likely, it's pretty clean without one right now. The oil-style logo pattern adds a pop of color to an otherwise plain shirt.
Image credit: Instagram/fcbarcelona
8. Barcelona Away
- To be a good kit it needs to be easy to use off the pitch and in some cases less is more. Barcelona's traditional blue and maroon is a little trickier to pull off, but this clean white number checks all the boxes.
Image credit: Benfica
9. Benfica Away
- For the club's 120th anniversary, Benfica's away shirt kept things simple by adding five colorful stripes across the chest. The Portuguese club have always had stylish kits, playing in black, red and white, but this skillful use of rainbow gives it an extra touch.
Image credit: Puma
10. Manchester City Third
- We're not sure how many people have said, "Hey, you know what vintage kit I want: Manchester City." The recent success has helped build a brand around the exciting team, and with relatively dull team colors, the jerseys have always been good, but not great. This season's third kit changes that a little. Featuring neon lightning bolts inspired by the 'ultra-fast style of play', the electric jersey will look as good off the pitch as it will tearing up the Premier League on it.
