You’ve seen the home kits, now here come the aways. This is where kit designers either go ‘full template’ and give a range of countries slightly tweaked versions of the same set-up, or go entirely rogue and produce some quite extraordinary shirts, for good and bad.
This way to see who got things right, and who…well, didn’t.
Argentina
Te presentamos nuestra nueva camiseta alternativa para el Mundial de #Qatar 💜
De la mano de nuestro capitán, Leo #Messi 😍
¡Vamos Argentina! 🇦🇷#adidasfootball #WorldCup @adidasAR pic.twitter.com/t0h2ZLpbIC
— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) August 29, 2022
What is it about purple that doesn’t really feel right as a football kit? It’s tricky to put your finger on what it actually is. Purple is a perfectly acceptable colour. Aubergines, for example, are purple. Parma violets. An array of beautiful flowers. Prince — he was always decked out in purple, and he was great.
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But it somehow doesn’t work as a football shirt, and this Argentina number is no exception. Lionel Messi looks happy enough in the promo pictures, but you do wonder: if they win the World Cup, the last thing that he has to achieve in his career, the pinnacle of his professional life, the stick people have grasped at to beat him with for years…do you reckon it would take the edge off if he was wearing this kit in the final?
Rating: 4/10
Australia
You loved the @Socceroos new home kit…but what do you think about the new away strip? 🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/e8FDcL6qla
— Fox Football (@FOXFOOTBALL) September 16, 2022
This is obviously a deeply lazy thing to say, but football/soccer is not a sport you immediately associate with Australia. It isn’t, and will probably never be anything close to their national sport, so you might expect that when choosing a shirt, they would steer clear of anything that reminded you of, say, rugby.
And yet, here we are with this shirt, a garment that really looks like it would be more at home on a big lad whose idea of a good time is drinking 12 pints of Tooheys, gouging someone’s eye then shaking hands with them afterwards because they’re just a bunch of bloody blokes.
Rating: 5/10
Brazil
Garra. @CBF_Futebol
It’s the will to move forward.
It’s the fire inside.
It’s pressure. On and off the pitch.
It’s dribbling, pedaling, scrambling, fighting.
It’s all of us together.
It’s our Grit. It’s our Garra.
OUR GARRA IS NEVER DONE#VesteAGarra #NikeFC pic.twitter.com/frZiWJEI69
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) August 8, 2022
The designers of Brazil’s shirts basically have the same luxury that those who deal with Ajax have: the home shirt is such an iconic, essentially un-spoilable classic, that you just put out a relatively basic version of that, which then frees you up to experiment a little more with the away shirt.
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This is what Nike have seemingly done here, with this jazzy reinterpretation of the blue change strip, with animal print on the sleeves. Does it look a bit like the back wall of an overly elaborate fish tank? Yes. Does that matter? No.
Rating: 8/10
Belgium
Belgium’s new away kit is inspired by the colours of Tomorrowland, a world-famous music festival in Flanders. 🧡🎶
[📸 IG: adidasfootball] pic.twitter.com/Ffm5cUgb7v
— COPA90 (@Copa90) September 23, 2022
Good lord. My days. Heavens to Betsy. WHAT a kit this is. You could write poetry about this shirt: I won’t, obviously, because that would be absolutely mortifying for all involved. But still…someone should.
Sure, it does look a little like someone has just designed a beautiful shirt and stuck some red, yellow and black on the trimming of the sleeves as a sort of afterthought, but does that matter? It absolutely does not matter. Actually, that’s slightly unfair: apparently the colours are inspired by Tomorrowland, a beloved Belgian music festival, but when something looks this good, it doesn’t really matter where the inspiration came from.
Rating: 9/10
Cameroon
The Cameroon away shirt, which is the same design as the home, works a bit better in white as opposed to green.
Rien ne sera plus comme avant !!#FIFAWC2022 | #QATAR2022 | #ALLEZLESLIONS | #LETSROARTOGETHER | #INDOMPTABLES pic.twitter.com/gHOO8V697U
— Les Lions Indomptables Officiel (@LIndomptables) November 5, 2022
We’re still left with this sub-Transformers logo in the background, but at least it stands out a bit this time, and the green, yellow and red sleeve trim pop a bit more. It has vibes of an early draft of a Germany kit from the mid-90s, the look they got the work experience kid to try before getting a professional to do the real one. If only they had stuck with Le Coq Sportif.
Rating: 5/10
Canada
How good was @SamAdekugbe last night?! 👊#WeCAN #CANMNT pic.twitter.com/V7KAh57k8D
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) September 24, 2022
As outlined in the home kit ratings, Canada haven’t got a new kit for this World Cup, which is slightly odd given that it’s their first trip to the global jamboree in 36 years, but at least they’re not treating it like an absolutely shameless cash-in, which they very much could do.
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It would help a little if the kits themselves weren’t quite so…boring, but in some ways the straightforward, keep it simple, no messing approach seems to fit quite nicely with the popular image and perception of Canadians in general.
Rating: 5/10
Costa Rica
🇨🇷 Costa Rica, New Balance reveal the nation’s home and away kits for the upcoming 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar ⚽
Full story, pics here: https://t.co/42rHR3mRNU pic.twitter.com/fMubKOitcI
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) September 15, 2022
There is something quite pleasing about kits that complement or reference each other, like there is a little planning that has gone into the respective wardrobes of the team. Like they are ‘of a piece’, if that isn’t over-intellectualising/over-thinking sportswear too much.
Anyway, the home shirt is red with a thick blue band on the sleeve, and the away shirt is white with a thick blue band on the sleeve. Easy, simple, done — lunch? If you were being particularly unkind to New Balance you could call them lazy, but we are not that unkind. Don’t overcomplicate things. Less is more.
Rating: 8/10
Croatia
How do you rate #Croatia new home and away kit in action? 🤔#Family #Vatreni❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/MXcq5ZMYll
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) September 26, 2022
Do you think whoever is given the task of designing Croatia’s kits occasionally just longs for a plain shirt, or stripes, or a star across the middle of it or something: anything but those checkerboard designs.
Hopefully not, because it’s a reassuring classic with a hint of peril to it: sensational, iconic even when done right, but equally easy to get wrong. This effort falls somewhere betwixt the two, starting with the checks on the left shoulder but fading away as it reaches the chest. You can sort of see what they were going for, but it looks a bit like the shirt is being used in a cleaning commercial, and someone has wiped the checks off an otherwise plain shirt.
Rating: 6/10
Denmark
This shirt carries with it a message.
We don’t wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.
We support the Danish national team all the way, but that isn’t the same as supporting Qatar as a host nation. pic.twitter.com/7bgMgK7WzS
— hummel (@hummel1923) September 28, 2022
Without wishing to self-plagiarise, it’s worth referring to the home kits ratings for discussion about what Hummel’s statement means in reality. So here we’ll just look at the basic design of the away and the third shirt, the latter being more effective by quite some way.
White shirts generally only really work with some bold colour added, even if it’s just a little on the trim or badges, so this white-on-white doesn’t really do it. The black jersey however is much better, as other blackout shirts before have shown, plus it somehow works more as a statement than the all-white design.
Rating: 6/10
Ecuador
😍🔥
Ecuador’s Away shirt for the World Cup 🇪🇨
I’ll definitely have to get my hands on this! pic.twitter.com/xrrgE0yXXu
— Unique Football Shirts (@unique_f_shirts) August 26, 2022
International tournaments usually provide a bit of variety to your humble kit rater, because in among all the sportswear behemoths churning out their designs and templates, you get some slightly less famous/more random providers.
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Take Marathon, the makers of Ecuador’s kits: who are they? No idea! Does that matter? No it doesn’t! But they’ve landed the national team gig, and done quite nicely with this one, going for the ‘largely plain block colour but with an interesting background design’ to mix things up a little.
Rating: 7/10
England
60+ million working as one. Gear up with @england and Nike FC.https://t.co/sO71MyjTXi pic.twitter.com/Hh4C51crjh
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) September 23, 2022
The only thing more powerful than the pull of nostalgia for men of a certain age, is the tedium that men of a certain age talking about nostalgia emit. But, I am a man old enough to remember Italia ’90, yet young enough to be punched in the gut by the various problems facing millennials in the UK, 2022. Which is a roundabout way of asking you to forgive me for finding pleasure where I can, and this kit, which doesn’t so much nod to England’s change strip from 32 years ago as basically copy it, is very pleasurable indeed. Yes please, yes please, yes please.
Rating: 8/10
France
Keeping the drive alive. Gear up with @fff and Nike FChttps://t.co/218D7m3cTx pic.twitter.com/Xd6GDcjU37
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) September 22, 2022
This is another of those white shirts that falls into the trap that many do, of having a background design that you can’t really make out unless you’re about five feet away, and any further back it just sort of looks like a grubby white shirt.
If you do get centre-back-marking-a-striker-at-a-corner close, you will be able to admire the “national and regional toile designs to reflect France’s cultural strength,” safe in the knowledge that Nike’s range of French apparel “represents the hunger for success driving the team’s desire to go back-to-back.” Of course.
Rating: 6/10
Germany
Created in the studio – mastered on the pitch 💪
Können nicht erwarten, unsere neuen Trikots im Stadion zu sehen 😍
Ab sofort erhältlich auf:
➡️ https://t.co/I3vY7E3flJ #adidasFootball @adidas pic.twitter.com/p1nGoIldZ9
— DFB-Team (@DFB_Team) August 29, 2022
Adidas haven’t quite gone down any template routes for their World Cup kits, but this is about as close as they have got to that. This red and black number, which looks a bit like the lines on the screen when you would rewind a VHS (ask your parents), is similar to the pattern on the Japan and Wales shirts, but in this case the colours involved are so distinct that it creates enough natural variety.
This one is a sort of fuzzy version of the shirt they absolutely pantsed Brazil in eight years ago, so from that perspective it’s a fine choice.
Rating: 7/10
Ghana
Ghana away shirt #Ghana #blackstars pic.twitter.com/va5YiOgfJG
— Ghana Soccer 🇬🇭 (@Ghanasoccer) August 23, 2022
Right. Now. Problems. Big problems. Those of you that have read the home kit rankings will have seen some very positive reports for Puma, specifically with the variety of attractive designs they have put out.
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The Ghana home shirt is a delight. Likewise Senegal. And Switzerland. And Uruguay. But these away shirt templates…what is going on? They all have this massive shield thing in the middle of the chest, with the players’ number so big you can basically see it from space, the combined effect being that they basically look like FIFA cards. Actually, that’s probably what they’re going for, isn’t it? Maybe it will impress the kids, but this kit rater reserves the right to think they all look absolutely awful. This Ghana shirt only gets this high a rating because the shade of red is so striking and the yellow/green trim provides a nice contrast.
Rating: 4/10
Iran
What a few weeks for Sadegh Moharrami:
👌 vs. Raheem Sterling in @ChampionsLeague
👌 vs. Rafael Leão in @ChampionsLeague
👌 vs. Darwin Núñez in important friendly
The Dinamo Zagreb right back has been a standout in each game – against some of the world’s best. pic.twitter.com/UtQSkuXc6z
— Persian Soccer (@prznsoccer) September 24, 2022
Identical to the home shirt, just with the red and white bits swapped around: so while the home shirt is mainly white with red and green trim, this one is mainly red with white and green trim.
It’s one of those things that you could either say is lazy, just avoiding having to come up with anything fresh for the change strip, or you could think it’s all of a piece, that the kits dovetail really nicely and it almost feels like a ‘range’ of shirts, as opposed to two wildly different, random thoughts thrown together. We’re in the latter camp: it’s not spectacular, it’s not especially flashy, but it’s solid and works nicely.
Rating: 7/10
Japan
Home and away Japan shirts as we head for 2022 World Cup! pic.twitter.com/12UYB0FFo5
— Japan Football Shirts (@JLeagueShirts) August 29, 2022
Just exceptional. This is arguably a better way to do what was discussed in the Iran kits: rather than just having a mirror image as the reserve outfit, you design something new that references the pattern on the home shirt. That’s what Adidas have done here for Japan, with the fuzzy design that dominates the home shirt restricted to a couple of panels on the sleeves of the away.
That nicely offsets the basic, clean nature of the otherwise plain white shirt with black trim, which could be boring without the flashes of colour. You don’t like to say something is perfect, but…it’s tough to find anything wrong here. We won’t give it full marks, just in case…but this is pretty special.
Rating: 9/10
Mexico
🚨 OFFICIAL: Mexico’s new away shirt for the 2022 World Cup! 🇲🇽
The kit represents the nation’s indigenous roots. 💚🤍❤️ pic.twitter.com/a938MtCgeD
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) August 29, 2022
If you asked most shirt designers whether they think about the reception (or backlash) on social media, or from fans, or from sniffy review columns on subscription-based websites, they would probably say no. But is that really true?
Can whoever designed this Mexico shirt, apparently featuring a background design intended to honour the country’s indigenous roots, really have not rubbed their hands together with glee at the thought of all the people who would laud the gorgeousness of this design, but also the (probably smaller number) who would regard it as sacrilege of some form? You do get the sense that half an eye is on the reception these days, rather than the design, but in this case the design is really quite delightful, so we’ll let them off.
Rating: 8/10
Morocco
PUMA has unveiled the away kits of Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Italy @PUMASouthAfrica @pumafootball @DougCarew pic.twitter.com/hUcqiBO1JS
— Khaya Ndubane (@Lakhandu) August 30, 2022
The good news is that Morocco seem to have escaped Puma’s otherwise predominant policy of slapping that massive shield on the chest of all their away shirts. Elsewhere, this shirt is mainly quite nice, apart from the dirty white stripe down the middle, that basically makes it look like someone has spilt their coffee in a very strictly defined and measured way.
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Otherwise, the deep green and red trim work really nicely, and once more those Puma collars look terrific.
Rating: 7/10
Netherlands
Always proud. Always Oranje. Gear up with @onsoranje and Nike FC.#nikefchttps://t.co/M9z4waazI0 pic.twitter.com/jOyxNkfRlV
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) September 25, 2022
Another nostalgia nod, this one as part of Nike’s homage to their kits from around the 2002 World Cup. They sort of get away with this one because it’s not a straight copy of the shirt they had back then: in 2002 their shirt was black and orange with this design, whereas in 2000 it was these colours but with a slightly different design. Is it a cop-out?
Probably not. Am I looking for something tangible to point to because I’m not sure about this shirt and can’t really put my finger on why? Quite possibly.
Rating: 6/10
Poland
The final shirts in the release.
Qatar, Poland, Canada and Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/F9JVMDniL2
— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) September 15, 2022
Much like the home shirt, this is a route one job. Mostly plain white home shirt. Bosh. Mostly red, even plainer away shirt. Bang. Done. No messing around. It’s a John Smith’s advert in football jersey form. Absolutely no nonsense. It’s a basic shirt, it’s a very different colour to the home top. Finished. Why are you still here? Get lost. Stop bothering me.
Rating: 7/10
Portugal
The next chapter starts today. Gear up with @selecaoportugal and Nike FC.https://t.co/FPuRRk51ZD pic.twitter.com/znYcLlDvYu
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) September 24, 2022
Those of you who read the home shirt ratings will know that we weren’t fans of the Portugal top, but the alternate is a different story altogether. The thick band across the chest works really nicely, and the ‘let’s try something different this time guys’ itch is scratched by having slightly asymmetric colours: there’s a bit more of the maroon than the green, but the proportions look just right.
Enough to make it different, not so much that it looks ostentatious, like they’re doing it for the sake of things. Well done Nike’s Portugal branch, you have redeemed yourselves.
Rating: 8/10
Qatar
The final shirts in the release.
Qatar, Poland, Canada and Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/F9JVMDniL2
— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) September 15, 2022
This is slightly less basic than the home shirt, which is just a plain red shirt with nothing much else going on, but that doesn’t necessarily make it much better.
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It’s a sort of off-white colour with repeating patterns that are apparently ‘inspired by the tradition of pearl diving’ off the coast of the country, but actually just look like the marks that a muddy football would leave on your school shirt and get you told off by your mum. Or if someone had left an iron on it, just rescuing it before burning straight through but not in time to save it from scorch marks. If the aim of this World Cup was to get people onside with the idea of Qatar, they ain’t doing it through lovely sartorial design.
Rating: 5/10
Saudi Arabia
The final shirts in the release.
Qatar, Poland, Canada and Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/F9JVMDniL2
— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) September 15, 2022
Is this a nice, enjoyable pattern or something resembling a bargain rack item, the sort of thing that someone who needed a Hawaiian shirt but left their shopping until the last minute and had to make do would buy? Genuinely not sure. It could be both. Let’s just give this a nice neutral rating, to reflect our indecision.
Rating: 6/10
Senegal
What do you think of Puma’s 🇸🇳 Senegal’s away shirt to be used in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar?#GalSportBetting | #OnlineBetting | #Qatar2022 | #WorldCup2022 pic.twitter.com/d06MkX98NE
— Gal Sport Betting-UG (@GalSportBetting) August 29, 2022
First thing’s first: this is a Cameroon shirt, isn’t it? Sure, Senegal usually do go with some shade of green for their change kit, but most of the time they look distinct from those of other nations. But if you removed all the identifying logos, showed this to 100 people and asked them to which country this shirt belongs, at least 90 of them would say Cameroon.
All this Cameroon talk is vamping to avoid having to talk about the big stupid shield in the middle of it again, but it is hard to avoid, and in this case really spoils a perfectly reasonable jersey.
Rating: 5/10
Serbia
🚨 OFFICIAL: Serbia’s new away shirt for the 2022 World Cup! 🇷🇸 pic.twitter.com/I1u1EwBGbC
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) August 29, 2022
Again. What’s the deal, Puma? Who not only thought ‘this big FIFA card shield logo thing looks really nice’, but that it looked so nice they should put it on all of their designs?
What gives? It obviously doesn’t look good on any of the shirts, but for some reason white with the gold trim makes it look even more…cheap? A real ‘buy in bulk from the back of a football magazine for your Sunday league/five-a-side team that takes things too seriously’ vibe.
Rating: 5/10
South Korea
South Korea Away Shirt 22/23
Thoughts on this kit!😍
What would you give it out of 10? pic.twitter.com/jrchzJmtNh
— the best football kits (@laughabtfooty) September 26, 2022
The clouds part, the bright shining sun of God pierces the atmosphere, trumpets sound and the call of the angels ring out: if you were ever looking for proof that the almighty exists, and that they wanted to express their love for humans through the medium of a football shirt, here it is.
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If Nigeria was the breakout classic of the 2018 World Cup, the one that fans of other countries bought, South Korea take that title this time. It’s glorious, a fat slice of 90s nostalgia but done in a pretty classy way: it looks like the art of someone who wasn’t appreciated in their time, but is posthumously regarded as a genius. Is all this over the top? Maybe, but come on: what a shirt.
Rating: 9/10
Spain
Spain’s new away shirt for the World Cup. 🌊 pic.twitter.com/Vmo3GUPMzu
— Secret Shirt Co (@secretshirtco) August 30, 2022
File under ‘probably shouldn’t work, but really does’. In theory there should be too much going on here: the swirling, undulating patterns, the slightly distracting central placement of the badge, the red and yellow shoulder stripes that don’t really go with the light blue of the rest of the shirt.
And yet, it looks really good, the blue patterns and the stripes providing a complementary contrast rather than clashing, plus it looks a bit like that Manchester United away shirt from last year that everyone enjoyed so much. Si senor!
Rating: 8/10
Switzerland
THE SWISS🤩🇨🇭
Swiss national team has presented its away jersey for the Qatar World Cup🇨🇭#Swiss #TheSquadra90 #Qatar2022 #Switzerland #PumaFootball #Puma pic.twitter.com/yf99pCOl7t
— TheSquadra90 (@TheSquadra90) August 29, 2022
A long exhalation. Another piece of this Puma/shield nonsense. The positioning of the Swiss flag makes this one look a bit like a shirt handed out to first aiders at a fun run, but actually compared to the other Puma/shield horrors. This isn’t quite as bad as the others. The thin hoopy pattern behind the shield is a nice reference to the home shirt, and white and red usually tends to look decent whatever the circumstances. But still: please make all this stop.
Rating: 5/10
Tunisia
Official: Tunisia Homa & Away WC Kit 2022
Drive: https://t.co/hD8LhTBuhC…#pes2021 #pes21 #peskit #kitmaker #eFootball2022 #TunisiaKit #Qatar2022 @BestPESKits @PesUniverse @EditemosPES @PESMasterSite pic.twitter.com/Gt08H2bltf
— JPKits (@Jamprice2022) September 29, 2022
Hang on, this is just the same as the home kit isn’t it? Just white instead of red, with the same pattern ‘inspired by the armour of Hannibal’ on the background? This is a test of our generally positive attitude to away shirts that are mirrors of the home shirt, because these aren’t quite complementary items as just plain copies of each other.
And, on a more basic, aesthetic level, the pattern doesn’t quite work as well in white as it does red, carrying with it that problem of it making the white shirt look like it’s been washed with a blue sock.
Rating: 6/10
Uruguay
.@Uruguay’s new 2022 World Cup away kit
Thoughts? 👍 👎 pic.twitter.com/V4sKFeR12k
— Uruguay Football ENG (@UruguayFootENG) August 29, 2022
Lovely. Really nice. Plain, but the white and that shade of sky blue go nicely together. The collar works really well, paired well with the cuffs, and the stripes down the middle are a slightly unusual touch but are quite effective. Of course, nobody can enjoy any of that because of the giant child’s shield in the middle ruining the whole shirt. Why, why, why.
Rating: 4/10
USA
Believe. Achieve. Repeat. Gear up with @usmnt and Nike FC.#nikefchttps://t.co/LwnF4DI7Tl pic.twitter.com/2BOfNQoeO2
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) September 26, 2022
There are ways to do the ostentatious, paint-splodgy style designs. Take South Korea, for example, or even Tottenham’s away shirt from last season. But this isn’t the way. It basically looks like a blue t-shirt that an artist has taken off a little too close to their easel, then had a horrible accident with their black paint.
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Maybe that would be a meaningful statement by that artist, a representation of the creative process, but as something for athletes to wear at the biggest football tournament in the world? Nope.
Rating: 4/10
Wales
“The Dragon on my shirt is all I need.”
🏴❤️🔥 The new @adidasfootball Cymru World Cup kit is available now for pre order at @JDOfficial!
Gorau Chwarae Cyd Chwarae#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/oB54nZgvdr
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) September 3, 2022
Adidas seem to have favoured white for their away shirt range at this World Cup, and they have nailed them all. No more so than this one, the kit equivalent of Gareth Bale belting a free kick into the top corner.
Do we need to explain why this shirt is brilliant? Just look at it! The red and green popping from the white! The collar that gives a subtle nod to another classic Welsh away from the early 90s! The whole thing! Bravo Adidas.
Rating: 9/10
(Top image designed by Sam Richardson for The Athletic)
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