Prior to the 1990s, Nike was seen as mainly an American sports brand, albeit a very popular one. You would not have to go very far to see someone wearing a pair of Nike Air back then, but the manufacturer was not so prevalent in the world of football. Not until around the 1994 World Cup, when Romario and Paolo Maldini wore Nike Tiempo football boots.
It was at around this time that Nike began manufacturing a growing number of football kits too. It is now one of the world's leading football brands, when it comes to both boots and shirts. Over the years they have released a number of memorable jerseys, but ranked here are the coolest Nike kits in football history.
Ranking factors
Aesthetically pleasing - simply how pleasing to the eye a kit is to fans.
Iconic quality - what big moments happened while the kit was worn.
Star power - what big names performed greatness in the shirt.
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10 France Away
Euro 2024
France's Kylian Mbappe vs Portugal.
France never really got going in Euro 2024. This is a shame because their away kit was awesome. On the face of it, it’s a pretty simple affair. A white shirt with thin pinstripes, blue on the right and red on the left. Not to mention a massive cockerel on the left of the chest and all offset with a beautiful pair of royal blue shorts and white socks.
It looks so good it is a mystery more teams don’t go for a white shirt royal blue shorts combination. While the kit looked great, Kylian Mbappe didn’t have such a great time in it. Mbappe may be one of the most expensive strikers in football history, but he got his nose broken and then saddled much of the blame for France bombing out of the tournament.
9 Barcelona
2010/11
Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates scoring against Real Madrid.
2011 was the year that Barcelona were once again too good for Manchester United in the Champions League final. Wayne Rooney may well have equalised, but Lionel Messi and David Villa scored in the second-half in what was a commanding Barcelona performance. It was a game in which United’s Rio Ferdinand later confessed Sergio Busquets embarrassed him.
This all happened with Barcelona wearing the yellow round-necked Barcelona jersey. It might not necessarily be their best kit, but the football they played in it gives it a high score on the cool scales. Not only did the Catalans win the Champions League that season, but they won the La Liga title too. Quite simply, Barcelona were unstoppable.
8 Rangers
1997 to 1999
Gattuso Rangers
Rangers won the Scottish title in one of the two seasons they wore this shirt. In 1998/99 they won the domestic treble. Rod Wallace scored the winner in it against Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final. Reminiscent of the great French kit of Euro ’84, but with its own distinct twist, several legends wore the jersey.
Quite a few Ibrox legends wore it the season before, in 1997/98, when the club lost the Scottish Cup final to Hearts. This was to be Ally McCoist’s last game for the Gers, he scored in it too. It just was not enough to avoid defeat. That season saw Paul Gascoigne and a young Gennaro Gattuso wear this lovely kit as well. Perhaps Rangers' finest ever jersey.
7 Arsenal
2005/06
Thierry Henry for Arsenal in 2006
In 2005, with the Gunners due to move to a new ground in 2006, they wore a burgundy home jersey to commemorate the first kit the club ever wore in the 1800s. It was to be a memorable, albeit painful, season for Arsenal. They ended the season fourth in the Premier League and lost the final of the Champions League.
Although in that final they wore their changed jersey of yellow and ended up losing to Barcelona after their goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off. Thierry Henry looked particularly cool in this kit. Naturally, he was on form in it: in the last league game at Highbury, he scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Wigan Athletic.
6 Borussia Dortmund
1997 Champions League Final
Dortmund
In 1997, Borussia Dortmund upset the odds and beat Juventus 3-1 in Munich’s Olympiastadion. That is when they wore this kit. A kit they only wore in the final. They had a separate yellow kit for the rest of the Champions League campaign and a further different jersey for the Bundesliga.
A midfield that included Paul Lambert, overcame Zinedine Zidane and Juventus. Former German striker Karl-Heinz Riedle got a brace that day. That day was the greatest in the German club’s history. The yellow and black hooped socks were something of a throwback to a bygone age. Dortmund have had a lot of variations of yellow kits, but this is the coolest.
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5 Arsenal
1994 to 1996
Bergkamp
This kit was very much about coming out of the George Graham era. The Gunners now had Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp in the same side and a new day was dawning at the club. This Arsenal shirt had more red on it than normal, with even the underside of the arms being red.
Yet with the white colour and the white Nike logo and swoosh stitched in white against the red made it a winner. Ian Wright banged in 53 goals in those two seasons, which saw Arsenal go from George Graham to Stewart Houston as caretaker manager to Bruce Rioch. The following season, a certain Arsene Wenger became manager – he would later take Arsenal to a new level with his entertaining brand of football.
4 Nigera
2018 World Cup
Nigeria 2018 kit
Nigeria caused something of a stir in 2018, when they abandoned their traditional green jerseys for something a bit offbeat. The kit soon became a classic. At first glance, with his arrowed shoulders, it looked like a Hummel kit. Although it is very much Nike. It quickly became something of a fashion item among football fans.
Although the Africans did beat Iceland in it, they lost to Messi’s Argentina 2-1 in the World Cup – although they weren’t wearing this kit in that game. The mint green against the crisp white was just pleasing to the eye then, and it still is now. A modern classic football kit.
3 Brazil
1998 World Cup
Ronaldo Nazario
The 1998 World Cup in France saw Ronaldo explode on the world stage for Brazil. He was voted the player of the tournament, scoring four goals, establishing himself as one of the greatest international footballers in history. It looked to be his tournament until he had a reported convulsion in the lead-up to the final with France. The French won 3-0.
Still, this kit reminds fans of a fit, young and healthy Ronaldo. It’s the classic combination of yellow, green, blue and white Brazil are famous for. As well as a Brazil team that were free and easy on the eye, perhaps more so than the national side that won the tournament four years earlier. While Brazil tasted defeat in the 1998 final, the kit has lasted the test of time.
2 Netherlands
1998 World Cup
Kluivert
In the end, the Netherlands went out of the 1998 World Cup in the semi-finals on a penalty shoot-out. But their deep orange Nike jersey struck a chord. It was the jersey in which Dennis Bergkamp scored one of his most iconic goals for his country.
That goal was against Argentina, when he took down a long-range pass from Frank de Boer with the ease of a man pulling an apple off a tree, before side-stepping Roberto Ayala, before having the audacity to wallop the ball home with the outside of his right foot. It was an utterly sublime moment. The kit’s clean lines had similar qualities.
1 Paris Saint-Germain
1994/95
George Weah
In recent years, everybody has become familiar with ParisSaint-Germain’s jersey. With players like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe playing for the club, it is no surprise. However, the kit people recognise is one of navy shirts offset with some white and deep red.
The club’s home kit of the mid-nineties was a different beast. With its royal blue and single red stripe down the middle, it was almost like the football kit equivalent of Captain America. The three stars above the Nike logo only heightened this. At the time, PSG had the likes of
David Ginola and George Weah. In their ranks. Players untethered by banal responsibilities like tracking back, or anything like that. They beat Barcelona and Bayern Munich on their way to the Champions League semi-finals. They lost over two legs to AC Milan, but that kit still rocks.
Stats via Transfermarkt.
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