When Bayern Munich launched a new strip for European action in 2002, it had a lot to live up to.
Its immediate predecessor had been well-received as it harked back to the classic looks of the 1970s and 1980s.
The fact that it was worn as they claimed the Champions League in 2001 only added to the iconicity.
The new offering was in the style that adidas had premiered at that summer’s World Cup.
The strong presence of navy, and the hooped socks, called to mind the popular 1999-2001 strip, while there were red alternative shorts, too. Initially, the same numbering style as on the 2000-02 European kit was used, before they switched to the more common adidas style.
In 2002-03, Bayern’s domestic home kit was the maroon and charcoal design that had been launched in 2001.
It was so dark that, for the Stadtderby against the black-clad 1860 Munich, Bayern used the previous European shirts with the white away shorts and socks.
In 2003-04, the newer iteration would also be summoned for domestic action.
The new home kit launched in the summer of 2003-04 featured an Arsenal-like red shirt with white sleeves, red shorts and red socks.
The European shirt was updated with the T-Com logo replacing T-Mobile, while, against Anderlecht, the domestic shorts and socks were used.
Oddly, the full red and white kit was used in Europe too – away to Celtic, surprisingly, given the volume of white on their kit – but prior to that there was a mashup used in the league away to Hamburg.
The home side were in their usual white shirts, red shorts and blue socks. While Bayern had worn the 1999 kit at Volksparkstadion without a mashup, here they sought to lessen the overall clash somewhat.
As the change kit was still white, options were somewhat limited and they wore alternative white shorts with the away socks (which, incidentally, featured none-too-subtle T-Mobile branding, so much so that they weren’t allowed to be worn in European competition).
Even with the changes, it still made for a less-than-ideal match-up.
Therefore, when Bayern played away to two other white and red sides later in the campaign, they came up with another solution.
On May 1, they travelled to Köln – a side who had caused them problems in 2001-02 – and then a fortnight later they went to Stuttgart. For both games, the European shirts were worn – in domestic format, with the club name on the back and name below the number, while the shorts lacked numbers.
For the Köln game, the default European shorts and socks were used, while against Stuttgart (who were showing off their new 2004-05 home kit), the red European alternative shorts were paired with the domestic home socks.
Bayern didn’t win any trophies in 2003-04, but they won something more important – the MOJ Prize for Creative Kit Selection, and that’s worth more than any silver.
For 2004-05, they made sure to increase their options, with a gold change kit and a black European strip, which was also pressed into action as a domestic third outfit.
