A long-overdue return for this series – we had intended to get this one done while all of the relevant countries were still in Euro 2020 but, sadly, plans don’t always work out.
All three involve reworking of designs seen at the tournament, essentially making them more traditional to see if they might work better. In alphabetical order, we’ll begin with France and their two-tone blue outfit, enlivened only by red socks. Would a traditional colour-way have worked better, as we feel it would in 2016? Being honest, probably not, due to the expanse of white on this one, but it was still worth a look.
Sadly, given the way that Uefa and Fifa seem to be clamping down more and more on colour-mixes, the famous tricolore is becoming a rarer beast – the 2018 last-16 tie against Argentina in the only time France have worn blue-white-red at a major finals since 2010, and even then that was with a navy shirt, though of course they have often opted for blue first-choice shorts in that time, too.
Germany were at least seen in their usual white-black-white against Portugal, though they had to wear white change shorts against France. In their other two games, they appeared in their all-black change kit, seemingly by choice against Hungary and by necessity against England. Seeking to capitalise on the popularity of ‘blackout’ items, it has divided opinion and we wondered how a ‘green-out’ shirt – a version in the country’s historic second-kit layout – might have gone down.
The flag-inspired cuffs remain, but otherwise there is no contrast, while the shorts could have doubled up as home alternatives – in real-life, Germany had two black sets – the default for the home kit with white stripes and the away with black or dark grey on black.
Italy of course have the same change kit template as Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland and it’s a design that has come in for criticism, though it appears more for the smaller crests rather than the clean stylings. So, how about a home version, with the Puma logo and FIGC badge in more conventional locations?
Feedback is always welcome, along with requests for future Fantasy Kit Friday offerings – comment below or tweet @museumofjerseys.
Scotland in white jersey with Red shorts and white and red socks