England Retro Shirts

England remains one of only seven national teams to have ever lifted the World Cup. In 1966 at Wembley Stadium England beat West Germany wearing the iconic red away shirt. The red England football shirt is still a favorite with fans and attempts by the F.A. to change the away kit to grey in 1996 led to a backlash from the media and fans. The grey kit was only worn for three matches before being withdrawn.

The white home shirt has remained largely unchanged since Englands first international game against Scotland in 1872, occasionally extra coloured piping or flashes have been added to the shirt, the 1982 World Cup in Spain saw England add red, white and blue shoulder panels. In recent years the Cross of St. George has also been added to many shirt designs. Occasionally England have needed to play in a third kit, this has mainly been all blue, the 1970 World Cup match against Czechoslovakia in Mexico is one of the few occasions this shirt has been worn in a match.

There are many iconic England shirts, Gazza famously dried his eyes on his shirt after being knocked out of Italia 90, Terry Butcher turn his white shirt red with blood during a a vital World Cup qualifier in Sweden, Bobby Moore swapped his England shirt with Pele after an epic match in the 1970 World Cup. The most iconic of all England shirts will remain the red away shirt worn by Bobby Moore as he lifted the World Cup in Wembley in front of the home crowd.

You can view all Englands classic retro football shirts in our store ~ Click Here

German Retro Shirts

Germany’s team’s home kit has always been a white jersey and black shorts which derived from the 19th century flag of the north German State of Prussia. The away jersey color has changed several times but historically a green shirt with white shorts is the most often used alternative color combination but other colours such as grey and black have also been used. The last change, from black to red, came in November 2004 on the request of Jürgen Klinsmann, citing that teams in red are statistically more successful and he hoped to use the red away shirt as first choice for the 2006 World Cup but Germany played every game at the 2006 World Cup in its home white colors.

In the 1954 World Cup, West Germany, captained by Fritz Walter played favorites Hungary in the group stage and suffered an incredible 3-8 loss. They went on to meet Hungary again in the final, facing the legendary team of Mighty Magyars again, which had gone unbeaten for 32 consecutive matches. In a shocking upset, West Germany came back from an early two goal deficit to win 3-2, with Helmut Rahn scoring the winning goal with only six minutes remaining. The success is called “The Miracle of Bern” and the unexpected victory created a sense of euphoria throughout a divided postwar Germany. The triumph is credited with playing a significant role in securing the postwar ideological foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany. They’ve even made a film about it – Das Wunder von Bern!

You can view all Germany’s classic retro football shirts in our store ~ Click Here

Scotland Retro Shirts

The Scottish national side are the joint oldest international team in the world, alongside England. The two teams played the worlds first international match on the 30th November 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Club’s ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick. The match was watched by over 4000 fans and ended in a 0-0 draw.

All 11 Scottish players were selected from the popular Queens Park Football Club in Glasgow, and the Scottish players wore the Dark Blue shirts of Queens Park for the match. The dark blue has been worn by the Scottish national side ever since. The match itself was a strange affair, England played the match with two defenders and eight forwards! The English goalkeeper also played outfield during match after swapping positions with William Maynard. Scotland came closest to winning the match, they had a goal disallowed in the first half and hit the tape (the crossbar hadn’t been invented yet!) in the last minutes of the game.

From these early internationals to the world cup finals Scotland have been involved in some classic games over the years. One of Scotland’s most memorable victories came against the old enemy and then world champions England at Wembley in 1967. Goals from Denis Law, Bobby Lennox and Jim McCalliog sent the traveling Tartan army into a frenzy.

In 1978 Scotland travelled to Argentina for the World Cup finals.  After a poor campaign, Scotland were determined to go out with a bang, and they did just that in an epic match with eventually finalist Holland. Kenny Dalglish cancelled out Rob Rensenbrink’s opener before midfielder Archie Gemmill struck twice, including his famous dribble around the entireDutch defence.

You can view all Scotland retro football shirts in our store ~ Click Here

St. Pauli Shirts

St. Pauli must be the coolest football club on the planet! The clubs Bohemian style and politics has made it famous with rock stars and true football fans the world over. Most of the team’s fans regard themselves as anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-sexist. FC St Pauli are certainly a unique club with a distinctive character and set of fans.

“How many clubs in the world have a transvestite President? Or a team photo with players in handcuffs? St Pauli are unique because they embrace all that is different. They celebrate freedom. And they welcome just about anybody who shares their ethos and who wants to have a good time. Their liberal, anti-establishment stance is appealing because it reflects all that has gone missing from English football.

As a football club St Pauli are legendry. They are run by anarchist punks, their logo is a skull and crossbones and they play in the red light area of Hamburg! So remember not all German football is about winning on penalties and ruthless efficiency ~ Never mind the bollocks, here’s St. Pauli!

You can view all St. Pauli retro shirts in our store ~ Click Here

Just take a look at this St. Pauli fans video…

Classic Retro England Shirts

From the highs of 1966 to the lows of Italia 90 we look at some iconic England shirts from the last 60 years. Since the success of beating West Germany at Wembly in ‘66 England have run the whole gamut of emotions on the pitch. England have produced some great performances since winning the world cup, a 5-1 win over Germany in Berlin and a 4-1 over Holland in the 1996 European championships. Theirs been humiliations along the way too!  Defeats by Croatia and Denmark stand out as real low points for the English game. But lets be positive and concentrate on those performances that made us proud to be English.

Classic England Shirts

England 4 West Germany 2

So far the World Cup Final on 30th July 1966 is England’s greatest result to date. Playing in front of the home crowd at Wembley England lifted the ‘Jules Rimet’ Trophy after beating West Germany 4 ~ 2 after extra time. The unconventional formation employed by England became known as the “wingless wonders” with a narrow attacking formation, described at the time as a 4-3-3 (although the formation was nearer a 4-1-3-2).

The actual match still remains controversial to this day, largely down to the 3rd English goal which hit the crossbar and bounced into the net and back out again. The German players always stated that the ball did not cross the goal line, the Russian linesman that day disagreed and awarded the goal which made it 3~2 to the Allies England. The 4th English goal which broke German and Scottish hearts was scored in the last seconds of the match by Geoff Hurst, giving the player a very rare World Cup final hat-trick.

The controversial 3rd goal is often talked about, but few people remember that the 2nd West German goal appeared to strike the hand of Karl-Heinz Schnellinger whilst travelling through the penalty area. In Germany a ball that hits the crossbar and bounces in the net is known as a ‘Wembley-Tor” or Wembley goal! To English fans the game is best remember for the legendary commentators line “And here comes Hurst. He’s got… some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over. It is now! It’s four!”.

Germany 1 England 5

A 2002 World Cup qualify saw England tear Germany apart at the Olympiastadion in Munich on September 1, 2001. A German victory would have confirmed their qualification and seen England competing with Greece and Finland for a place in the qualification playoffs. Germany had been unbeaten at the Olympiastadion stadium since 1973. After just six minutes it seemed Germany would remain unbeaten at the stadium when Carsten Jancker was able to tap the ball past England’s goalkeeper David Seaman.

The lead did not last long, on the 12th minute, England were given a free kick. Nicky Barmby headed down to Owen, who volleyed the ball past Oliver Kahn. Just before the end of the half Steven Gerrard shot the ball into the corner of the German goal from 25 yards out, putting the score at Germany 1, England 2.

Three minutes after the kick-off, a cross from David Beckham found Emile Heskey, who headed the ball down to Michael Owen, who was unmarked. Owen hit the ball into right-hand corner of the net. Although Germany were able to create further chances in the second half, it was England who struck again in the 66th minute. Steven Gerrard’s successful tackle gave him possession, and he set up a great through ball for Owen, who sprinted into the box and fired the ball over Kahn’s head to give England a 4-1 lead. This made Michael Owen the first England player since 1966 World Cup winner Geoff Hurst to score a hat-trick against Germany.

England began to defend their heavy lead. However, in the 74th minute, they managed to extend it through a counter attack. Rio Ferdinand won the ball in defense and gave it to Paul Scholes. He progressed up the pitch through a one-two passing move with David Beckham. Scholes passed the ball to Emile Heskey, who sprinted past German defender Marko Rehmer and hit the ball low past Oliver Kahn to make it 5-1.

Holland 1 England 4

A European Championship Finals game at Wembley Stadium Tuesday June 18 1996 saw England were getting to grips with the game early on and were preventing Holland from playing their usual game. There was a scare though in the 20th minute when Cruyff flew past Anderton, but Pearce was able to prevent further danger when the ball deflected from him for a corner. The corner didn’t create anything for Holland but it did for England.

On the break from this play England charged forward through Sheringham and McManaman. The Liverpool winger found Ince who went past Blind. The Holland defender then turned after Ince and tripped him. The only action which could possibly have been taken was a penalty, which the referee awarded. Shearer coolly converted the spot-kick to break the deadlock.

England began the second period as they had started the first. Only six minutes had elapsed in the second half when from a corner, Sheringham headed the ball into the top of the net. There was jubilation around Wembley as England’s lead increased to two. Playing in control England didn’t sit back and defend but carried on trying to better their tally, and did so in the 57th minute. McManaman teamed up with Gascoigne for the Rangers star to find Sheringham, needing only to tap the ball to Shearer, who made no doubt of making the score 3-0. That was Shearer’s fourth goal in 3 games.

The scoreline was remarkable and still England kept going for more. The fourth came when a driving shot from Anderton flummoxed van der Sar, who couldn’t keep hold of the ball and Sheringham seized the opportunity of Holland’s mistake to give England a four goal margin over the Dutch. England were in defiant mood.

Classic Brazil Retro Shirts

If it’s samba style you’re after then take a look at classic Brazil shirts from the past. A retro Brazil shirt won’t help you play better but at least you’ll look the part!

The Brazilian national teams first ever match was against English club side Exeter City in 1914! To this day Exeter fans claim to have taught Brazilians how to play football! The result of the game (a 2 – 0 defeat for Exeter) suggest that the Brazilians already had a fairly good grasp of the basic rules. The famous quote about the game of football is “The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it.”

When we think of the Brazil team we always imagine the famous yellow shirts and electric blue shorts, but Brazil only started to wear the yellow and blue kit from the mid 1950’s. Before then Brazil flirted with a number of different colour combinations including: Red shirts & white shorts, white shirt & white shorts, yellow & green vertical striped shirts, yellow & black striped shirts and a few more variations besides! After an embarrassing defeat at home in the 1950 world cup the Brazilian public blamed the current kit (white shirt with blue collars) for the lose! claiming it wasn’t patriotic enough.

In 1951 a Brazilian daily newspaper held a competition to design a kit incorporating the four colours of the Brazilian flag. The design of nineteen year old Aldyr Garcia Schlee from the town of Pelotas was chosen as the winning entry. The new kit of yellow shirt with green trim and blue shirts echoed the design of the brazilian flag perfectly. The kit was first used in 1954 and has remained largely unchanged ever since.

You can view a full our full range of retro Brazil football shirts in our store ~ Click Here

Classic Cheaters Retro Shirts

Get that authentic bad boy look with our selection of world class cheaters shirts. Players like Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba have taken cheating and diving to a next level. If you want to be instantly unpopular on the terraces or down the pub then get yourself a bad boy retro football shirt.

*Thierry Henry* coming soon!

Cheeky Winker

 

Christino Ronaldo the player everyone loves to hate (even United fans) endeared himself to his adopted country by getting England player Wayne Rooney (his United team mate) sent off in a World Cup Quarter Finals match in Portugal. Ronaldo ran the length of the pitch to plead with the referee to give Rooney a red card.  

Rooney duly received his marching orders from the ref and Ronaldo gave a cheeky wink and smile to the Portuguese bench, Portugal went on to win the match and Ronaldo later said “He is my team-mate and a player of international level. I felt very sorry for him [Rooney] because we are team-mates and very good friends.”  With friends like that…

You can get you very own C. Ronaldo bad boy look with a retro Portugal shirt, to complete the look you’ll need a cheeky wink and a gallon of grease for your hair!

Hand Of Knob

 

Often called the greatest player that ever lived, in reality Maradona is just a knob! The only thing he is legendary for is cheating! His ‘Hand Of God’ incident against England in the Mexico World Cup is the stuff of legend. How the match officials could think a player who stands at only 3.2 ft could out jump England goalkeeper Peter Shilton at 6ft is beyond me!

We should also remember that Maradona was a world class diver, his dramatic tumbles in the ‘94 World Cup should have earned him a place on the Argentina Olympic Diving team.

You can take your pick of shirts for Maradona, he cheated his way around the globe playing for Barcelona, Napoli, Savilla and Boca Juniors. We think his cheating is best remembered in his number 10 Argentina shirt. To get the authentic ‘Maradona’ look you may also need to purchase 500 meat pies, afro wig and walk on your knees!

Remember Versaille!

 

The 1982 World Cup Semi Final: This wasn’t the first time Germany delivered a knock out blow to France, this time it happened on the footballs fields of Spain rather than the battle fields of Europe. Micheal Paltini’s French team had won many admirers with their free flowing attacking football style, which had seen them progress to the 1982 World Cup semi finals where Germany awaited them.

By comparision the Germany’s had only reached the final stages of the competition by engineering a result with Austria, in a disgracfull performence the German and Austrian teams played out a 1-0 win for Germany which guaranteed both teams would reach the next stage of the competition, players strolled around the pitch, passing the ball sideways and backwards. The outraged, largely Spanish crowd yelled ‘Fuera, fuera’ (‘OUT, OUT’). The result of the match meant that Algeria who had beaten German in the opening game would go out of the competition.

Unfortunately the semi final match will only be remembered for one horrific tackle. The most controversial, and still talked-about incident of the game came mid-way through the second half, when Platini’s lofted through ball sent substitute Patrick Battiston in for a run on goal. German goalkeeper Schumacher could see that Battiston would have a clear scoring opportunity. Without hesitation German keeper Schumacher ran out of this area and launched himself at Battiston, the Frenchmen just had enough time to lift the ball over the keeper before being flatten. Battiston was knocked unconscious by the challenge, lost two teeth and broke three ribs! the match referee didn’t even book Schumacher for the tackle! We looked all over the web but we couldn’t find a retro German keepers shirt from ‘82 but you can play the part of Battiston with a great retro France shirt.

Juventus Retro Shirts

Juventus The ‘Old lady’ of Italian football are nicknamed ‘i bianconeri’ which translates as the ‘Black and Whites’. The classic home shirt worn by Juventus today wasn’t so intimidating back in the 1900’s when the teams original home shirt was bright Pink. The result of a mix up with their shirt supplier!

The club found that the pink shirts faded badly after washing. By 1903 a replacement kit was needed, this time the club decided to let John Savage an English man playing with Juvuntus to place the order for the kit with a friend back in England. Savages friend lived in Nottingham and was keen fan of local team Notts County, the friend duly dispatched eleven black and white Notts County shirts!

Juventus also wear a blue second kit and occasionally they have played in yellow, famously winning the 1984 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Final in the yellow shirt.

You can view all Juventus retro shirts in our store ~ Click Here

Tags: black, county, juve, juventus, kit, notts, pink, retro, shirts, white

Ajax Retro Shirts

December 14, 2008 by edd  
Filed under European Club Retro

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The first kit that Ajax wore was all black, this was later changed to red and white shirts and black shorts. The red, white and black represented the colours on the flag of the city of Amsterdam. On promotion to the dutch first division in 1911 Ajax were forced to change their kit again to avoid a colour clash with Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax changed their shorts to white and add one broad vertical stripe on the shirts.

The Ajax shirt is one of the most instantly recognizable in world football. Legendary player Johan Cruijff helped make the shirt an icon during the early 70s at a time when Ajax dominated European football. In 2008 Ajax paid tribute to Cruijff’s efforts by retiring the number 14 shirt he wore for them from 1964 to 1974.

You can view all Ajax retro shirts in our store ~ Click Here.

Tags: 14, Ajax, Amsterdam, dutch, Johan Cruijff, retro, shirts

Barcelona Retro Shirts

December 14, 2008 by edd  
Filed under European Club Retro

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The list of legendry players who have worn the famous Barcelona shirt over the years seems endless: Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Stoichkov, Laudrup, Figo, Thuram, Overmars, Hagi, Koeman, Messi, Davids.

The famous scarlet and blue striped shirt worn by the above players has remained largely unchanged for the last 100 years. The club is widely known as the ‘Blaugrana’ in reference to the names of these colours in the Catalan language. The origins of the shirt design still remain some what of a mystery, it is possible that the colours for the shirt were taken from Crosby’s Merchant Taylor’s School in Merseyside. One of Barcelona’s first players was Englishman Arthur Witty who had been a pupil at the school which used the colours for it’s sports teams.

The Barça shirt has gone on to become one of the most recognisable football shirt designs of all time. It’s also worth noting that FC Barcelona have resisted putting commercial sponsorship on the shirt, instead they display the logo of the charity UNICEF and donate time and money to support the organizations work around the world.

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Tags: barca, barcelona, Blaugrana, Catalan, kit, maradona, messi, retro, shirt

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