Second round
France 4 Argentina 3
Surprisingly, but refreshingly, both sides were allowed to wear their full first-choice kits with no alterations. Argentina exited the tournament having only used one goalkeeper kit.
Uruguay 2 Portugal 1
Spain 1 Russia 1 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)
Russia’s home kit had match details in the middle but on the away, they were below the crest. The goalkeeper’s shirt followed suit for each game, meaning that Igor Akinfeev wore his blue (and green) kits with two different inscription versions.
Croatia 1 Denmark 1 (aet, 3-2 on penalties)
With both of Denmark’s kits clashing with Croatia’s home, the two teams changed.
Brazil 2 Mexico 0
In 2014, Mexico wore their away kit when the countries met in the group stage so it was nice to see both tri-coloured home strips here.
Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker switched to black, though his bright green was unlikely to have caused confusion with Mexico’s darker shade.
Belgium 3 Japan 2
This was certainly a match-up which would have resulted in one side changing kit in previous tournaments, but common sense continued to prevail in the knockout stages.
Sweden 1 Switzerland 0
Colombia 1 England 1 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)
With Colombia continuing to favour white shorts and socks, England wore their alternative away shorts, as they had done against Tunisia.
Quarter-finals
Uruguay 0 France 2
A fifth kit combination in as many games for France.
Brazil 1 Belgium 2
Sweden 0 England 2
All-red for England again despite Sweden’s blue shorts – their kitman Pat Frost said that Fifa had ordered the change as Robin Olsen’s shorts were a light shade.
Russia 2 Croatia 2 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)
The expectation might have been that Russia would have to change too, but they were allowed to wear their home shirts, with the proper socks back in action.
Semi-finals
France 1 Belgium 0
Another different combination for France, with the shorts changed too even though only the socks clashed. We’d have liked to have seen them in blue-white-white.
Croatia 2 England 1 (aet)
Despite being the away team, England were able to wear their home shirts, with the away shorts getting their first outing of the competition.
Croatia equalled France’s record from 2006 of wearing their change shirts for the fifth time.
Third-place play-off
Belgium 2 England 0
The outcome was the same as their group game but the visual was different as both teams wore their change kits, meaning England wore their proper away strip for the first time, their fourth different combination.
Final
France 4 Croatia 2
No seventh combination for France, but they won’t have minded. Croatia wore their home shirts for the first time since the Nigeria game, though again with white socks – along with Colombia, Egypt and Costa Rica, they didn’t get to wear their full first-choice outfit in the tournament.
not a single match in which the goalkeeper wore white socks, or – even better – black shorts combined with white socks and a coloured shirt – what a nightmare!