Nowadays, it’s commonplace for Borussia Dortmund to eschew a third strip and instead launch two new yellow and black shirts each season, with one set aside for use in the Champions League.
That has been the case in 2023-24, with the club wearing their European strip in Saturday night’s final against Real Madrid at Wembley.
Dortmund spearheaded Nike’s early impact in European football and they wore some interesting and unusual designs in the early 1990s, including abstract patterns and diagonal numbers on the back.
The new shirt for 1996 was more conventional, with some black striping at the sides and on the sleeves the only real flourishes.
It was, however, joined by another shirt employing the same cut and collar style with far more black. This was intended for use in the Champions League campaign, with player names absent from the back.
There was an equivalent black-and-white-striped European away shirt but it wasn’t needed as Dortmund were able to wear the yellow and black as they came through a group featuring Atlético Madrid, Widzew Łódź and Steaua Bucharest before overcoming Auxerre and Manchester United in the knockout stages.
That brought them to the final in Munich against the competition’s holders Juventus.
For this game, though, the European kit was dispensed with as, instead, they opted to premiere their 1997-98 strip – with fashion company s.Oliver about to take over as sponsors, this game was the only one where this shirt featured the brand of insurance firm Die Continentale (not to be confused with Continental Tyres).
Due to Uefa advertising regulations, the company’s wordmark was absent.
The change did them good as two goals from Karlheinz Riedle and one from sub Lars Ricken gave them victory.
