Scotland’s mix and match

Having worn their new home kit against Cyprus and Kazakhstan in November, Scotland recently unveiled the change kit that will be worn if and when football ever resumes.

While the two shirts operate from different palettes, Scotland have managed to allow for interchangeability between the kits with inverse shorts and socks.

It’s unlikely that the home shirt will be used with navy shorts and white socks, or that the away will appear with white shorts and navy socks – there is a chance of either materialising but we’d expect these four combinations to have greater potential.

We do like the away design in that it calls to mind classic adidas 1980s styles but also provides something new.

One fear we might have is that Uefa would be so pernickety as to prevent the shirt being worn against royal-blue opponents – something Northern Ireland have experienced in the recent past. Were that to happen, then Scotland might have to call upon the previous yellow shirt, which was also paired with shorts and socks that were alternatives for the first-choice kit.

It was a more jarring match-up that the new away, as white didn’t appear on the change shirt at all. Incidentally, the home jersey had a pattern which took its cues from the 1988 Netherlands shirt.

Over the two-year lifespan of those strips, the away only ever appeared in its default format, so we were denied seeing something like what Scotland wore against Norway at the 1998 World Cup. Similarly, when Scotland played Peru, they wore all-navy rather than navy-navy-red, as worn against the same opposition in Argentina in 1978.

One other combination with the home strip came in the European Championship qualifier at home to Belgium last year. A 2018 friendly between the country at Hampden Park had seen Scotland in navy-white-red against the visitors’ yellow and black change strip and, while Belgium changed again, this time Scotland were navy-white-navy.