Nigeria’s Russia 2018 Jersey Makes Iconic Football Shirts List

Nigeria’s Russia 2018 Jersey Makes Iconic Football Shirts List

Femi Solaja with agency report

Super Eagles’ outfit to the last World Cup finals at Russia 2018 still continue to resonate in the global football space following its nomination among the best shirts don by football teams in the last 52 years.

According to a survey carried out by BBC Sports yesterday, Nigeria’s home attire which was also used at AFCON 2019 last summer in Egypt was among the best 20 since 1966 when England won the FIFA World Cup on home soil in a 3-2 win against the then West Germany at the Wembley Stadium.

The survey to select the best outfit was carried out by seasoned football writers and visitors to the site are expected to vote for the best among the 20-team shirts and the results will be published today (Thursday).

That Super Eagles’ jersey to the Mundial took the world by storm few weeks before Russia 2018 kicked off.

Fans queued for hours outside Nike’s flagship store in London to get their hands on one. Three million pre-orders of the replica shirts, sold out almost immediately after they were released.

Interestingly, it was the jersey that gave the Super Eagles its only win at the World Cup with a 2-0 win against Iceland but crashed out in the Group phase with 0-2 and 1-2 loss to Croatia and Argentina respectively.

Other shortlisted jerseys aside England’s outfit at 1966 include, FC Celtic in 1967, Brazil’s World Cup winning team at Mexico 1970 which was very similar to most other Brazil kits, but this one was a retro classic and the last shirt Pele sported before retiring from international duty.

Also on the list is FC Chelsea shirt in 1970 and FC Ajax of 1971 which was simple but an absolute beauty.

It was in this kit that Ajax beat Panathinaikos 2-0 at Wembley as they won the first of three consecutive European Cup finals.

Mexico jersey to Argentina 1978 was also selected just as Argentine’ Boca Juniors shirt of 1981 made the list of iconic shirts.

Belgium outfit in 1984; FC Liverpool 1984 as the Reds wore a near-identical home shirt from 1983-1985, but this sponsorless edition worn for the 1984 European Cup final in Rome stands out. Joe Fagan’s side beat Roma on penalties that night, and the famous shirt was used to inspire the Reds’ 2019-20 kit.

Denmark’s outfit at Mexico 1986 is also in the mix same with the Netherlands’ outfit with which they won the 1988 Euro Cup tournament. Colombia’s outfit, England and that of eventual winners, the then West Germany made it.

Interestingly, the Germans’ slick designed outfit was adopted by Nigerian clubside, Iwuayanwu Nationale of Owerri.

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