The Best Football Kits of the 2014 World Cup

The 2014 World Cup kits arrived in a summer of chevrons, sashes and saturated colour, and more than a decade on a surprising number of them have aged beautifully. Brazil hosted, Germany won, and collectors have been quietly picking over the racks ever since.

Why the 2014 World Cup kits still hold up

Thirty-two nations were dressed by eight different manufacturers in Brazil. Nike supplied ten teams, adidas nine and Puma eight, with Burrda (Belgium), Lotto (Costa Rica), Marathon Sports (Ecuador), Joma (Honduras) and Uhlsport (Iran) filling in the rest. That spread matters, because it kept the tournament from looking like a single catalogue. You had Nike leaning hard into bold single-colour blocks, adidas reviving archive graphics, Puma cutting its notoriously tight ACTV body-mapping shirts, and a handful of smaller brands doing something entirely their own.

It was also the last World Cup before the heavy-knit, laser-cut template era really took hold. If you like a shirt that still looks like a football shirt rather than a compression layer, 2014 is a good hunting ground — and a far cheaper one than the 1990s pieces in our retro football jerseys range.

Germany: the chevron that lifted the trophy

adidas gave Germany a white home shirt broken by a thick red chevron across the chest, a nod to the 1990 and 1994 graphics without copying either. It is the defining shirt of the tournament for the simple reason that Mario Götze was wearing it when he chested down André Schürrle's cross and volleyed home in the 113th minute of the final at the Maracanã. Germany 1, Argentina 0.

The away shirt is arguably the better design: black and red hoops with tonal striping inside the red bands, a black stand collar and silver adidas branding. It has become one of the most reissued German shirts of the modern era. If you want the full story of the DFB's best shirts, we ranked them in our guide to the best Germany jerseys of all time, and you can browse current stock in our Germany national team jerseys section.

Brazil: Nike's yellow under maximum pressure

Designing the host nation's shirt is the hardest brief in football, and Nike played it straight: canary yellow, green trim, a slimmer collar than 2010 and very little else. It was the right call. The shirt is unimpeachable; the football inside it was not, and the 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany in Belo Horizonte has permanently coloured how the kit is remembered in Brazil.

That is precisely why it is interesting to collectors. A clean, well-made Seleção shirt tied to one of football's most talked-about nights will always move. Browse what we have in Brazil jerseys, or read why the Brazil jersey is the most iconic kit in football.

Japan: the Enjin sash

The best shirt nobody outside the shirt-nerd community talks about. adidas gave Japan a deep crimson home jersey with a sash of fading vertical lines sweeping across the chest, built around the idea of players linked together in a circle. It photographs superbly, the colour is genuinely distinctive, and it was never over-produced in Europe — which is exactly why finding one in good condition now takes patience.

Italy: Puma's quiet masterpiece

Italy went out in the group stage, beaten by Costa Rica and Uruguay, but the shirt deserved better. Puma's Azzurri home was a rich, slightly darker blue than usual with restrained tonal detailing and a neat V-neck, cut tight in that way only Puma committed to at the time. Sizing is the thing to watch here: a 2014 Puma Italy shirt runs at least one size small against a modern Nike replica, so check our football jersey size guide before ordering. More Azzurri options sit in our Italy jerseys and Italy classic jerseys categories.

Croatia, the Netherlands and the European heavyweights

Croatia opened the tournament against Brazil in the red-and-white checkerboard, a pattern so strong that the only way to ruin it is to overthink it; Nike did not. The Netherlands wore a clean Nike orange and used it to take Spain apart 5-1, Robin van Persie's flying header the image of the group stage. Spain, the holders, went home after two games in an adidas red that nobody remembers fondly — proof that results shape how a kit is judged far more than fabric ever does.

England's Nike home shirt, white and deliberately plain, suffered the same fate after an early exit. You will find it cheap, which makes it a sensible entry point for anyone starting a collection. Our full England jerseys range covers the rest, and Europe national team jerseys has the wider selection.

Colombia, Chile and the South American colour rush

Colombia's adidas yellow is one of the great feel-good shirts, mostly because James Rodríguez spent the summer in it. Six goals won him the Golden Boot, and the chest-down volley against Uruguay in the last 16 is still the best goal of the tournament. Chile's Puma red, worn with blue shorts, carried them past holders Spain and into a penalty shootout with Brazil. Argentina's adidas home, meanwhile, went all the way to the final — see our Argentina jerseys and the wider South America range.

The smaller federations punched above their weight

Ivory Coast's Puma orange, Nigeria's adidas green and Costa Rica's Lotto red all looked better than their price tags suggested. Costa Rica deserve special mention: they topped a group containing Uruguay, Italy and England, then went out to the Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals. Few shirts from the last twenty years are so closely tied to a genuine giant-killing run. The USA's Nike home, white with a single red sash, has its own moment attached — Tim Howard's fifteen saves against Belgium, still a World Cup record.

The best away shirts of Brazil 2014

If you only buy one away shirt from this tournament, make it the Germany black-and-red. After that, Brazil's deep blue alternate is the most wearable, Japan's white away carries the same sash graphic in reverse, and Italy's white Puma change shirt is the sleeper pick. Away kits from 2014 were produced in far smaller numbers than the home shirts, so condition and availability vary wildly — see our piece on the best third kits in football history for more on why alternates are often the smarter buy.

Buying 2014 World Cup kits today

Prices on 2014 World Cup kits sit in a comfortable middle band: old enough to feel like proper retro, recent enough that supply has not dried up. A few things to check before you commit. First, decide between authentic and replica — the 2014 player-issue shirts are dramatically tighter and lighter, and our guide to authentic versus replica football jerseys explains the difference. Second, inspect the badge and the heat-pressed branding closely, because this era is heavily counterfeited; how to spot counterfeit football jerseys walks through the tells. Third, look after what you buy — sponsor-free international shirts are forgiving, but heat is not, and how to care for your football jersey covers the basics.

For context on where these shirts sit in the wider story, read our rankings of the best football kits of the 2010 World Cup, the best football kits of the 2010s and the greatest World Cup kits of all time. Full match data and squad lists for the tournament are on the official FIFA tournament page.

Shop 2014 World Cup kits at SideJersey

We stock national team and club shirts across every era, from Brazil 2014 originals to modern releases. Start with our national team jerseys, dig through the classic jerseys archive, or look ahead with our World Cup 2026 jerseys collection. Club collectors should head for club team jerseys and the Premier League range. More reading lives on the SideJersey blog, and if you are unsure about sizing or shipping, our FAQ has the answers.