- Thanks to Dutch football expert Dirk Maas for his help
Along with Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal, PSV were among the first tranche up clubs signed by Nike as they looked to make inroads into the European football market.
The club joined forces with the American company in 1995 and it was a partnership that was to last for two decades – since switching at the end of 2014-15, PSV have worn Umbro and now Puma.
To mark the conscious uncoupling, Nike gave PSV a special strip, worn in the final two league games of that league-winning season, at home to Heracles and away to Den Haag.
White was the second kit in 2014-15 with blue the third option – both common in the change-strip rotation – and so the ‘Farewell Kit’ was purple, trimmed in lime. The marketing blurb said that it was to reference the first Nike PSV away shirt, but that was more of a blueish hue, and this was essentially a sneak preview of the Challenge teamwear template which was to be introduced for 2015-16, itself an evolution of the third kits given to Nike’s major contracts in 2014-15.
While PSV did canter to the title, finishing 17 points clear of Ajax, the kit didn’t feature in the presentation celebrations – that had happened after the league win was clinched with victory over Heerenveen in April.
PSV would go on to retain the title in 2015-16 and that season would also feature a twice-worn commemorative kit, which we shall look at soon.
