EsquireUK-June2018

36 Style

Strip tease > he 11 greatest World Cup football shirts

Croatia, 1998

Everyone’s “second” team,

there isn’t a soul — not

one — who doesn’t love

the red-and-white chequers

of Croatia. And this

could even be their year!

(It won’t be.)

Cameroon, 2002

Some people hate the

vest, we happen to think

it should be hung in the

annals of football shirt

history, but not if it has the

Comic Sans squad numbers.

hat’s going too far.

England, 1982

here’s been a lot of dross

(we’re looking at you 2002),

but there’s been some gold,

too. Recent kits aren’t as

hideous as they could be,

but nothing bests this

tricolour Admiral number.

Germany, 1990

he meticulously Teutonic

sweep of the flag, the

Bauhaus brutaliy of the

colour blocking, and those

enormous wings. Pure

Germanic brilliance.

Denmark, 1998

heir 1986 kit might be

the coolest thing ever

to grace a football pitch

(especially on Michael

Laudrup), but how can

we deny Peter Schmeichel

and his ravey garms?

Argentina, 1994

It was too painful to include

the Maradona 1986 “Hand

of God” strip, so here’s

the one from the equally

iconic ’94 tournament,

when everything went

a bit... Colombian.

All shirts, plus many more,

available at classicfootballshirts.co.uk

Lucy if Sharp