The Best 2018 World Cup Kits, Ranked

Russia 2018 was the summer kit culture went properly mainstream, and the best 2018 World Cup kits are still the shirts customers ask us for by name. Eight years on, the archive raids and pattern experiments of that tournament look smarter than almost anything that followed.

Why the 2018 World Cup kits still feel modern

Brazil 2014 was dominated by clean templates and sublimated graphics that photographed well and aged badly. Four years later the brands changed tack: adidas gave eight of its twelve nations designs built on a specific historical reference, and Nike leaned into bold colour blocking rather than subtle texture. The result was a tournament where you could identify a team from a sleeve cuff, which is exactly what collectors want.

If you want the wider context, our rundown of the best football kits of the 2010s puts Russia 2018 alongside the decade's club highlights, and our greatest World Cup kits of all time list shows how many of these shirts have already forced their way into the canon.

Nigeria: the shirt that sold out in minutes

No conversation about 2018 World Cup kits starts anywhere else. Nike's Nigeria home shirt, designed by Matthew Wolff, paired a green and white zigzag wing pattern with black-and-white chevron sleeves, both nodding to the Super Eagles shirt of USA 1994. Nike reported over three million pre-orders, and when it reached general release it sold out almost immediately, with queues forming around the Oxford Street store in London.

It is now the rare football shirt held in a museum: the Victoria and Albert Museum added it to its collection as a piece of contemporary design. If you like your shirts loud and your history African, our guide to the best African national team jerseys of all time is the natural next read.

Germany's grey-and-black take on 1990

adidas described Germany's home shirt as a contemporary take on their 1990 design, the year they lifted the trophy for a third time. The famous black, red and gold chest flashes were reworked as a pixelated grey graphic across a white body, with black detailing on the collar and cuffs. Most people only came to appreciate it later, because the football was a disaster: Germany lost 1-0 to Mexico, beat Sweden 2-1, then went out in the group stage after a 2-0 defeat to South Korea.

That awkward history is part of the appeal now. Browse our Germany shirts if you want the modern equivalent, or read our pick of the best Germany jerseys of all time for the 1990 original that inspired it.

Croatia's chequerboard reaches the final

Croatia's red and white chequers are the most recognisable national pattern in football, and Nike kept it simple: bold squares across the chest and shoulders, thin navy trim, nothing clever. Both finalists wore their home kits at the Luzhniki Stadium on 15 July 2018, so the picture everyone remembers is chequerboard against navy. France won 4-2, and Luka Modrić took the Golden Ball in a losing shirt.

Spain, Mexico and Colombia: adidas raids the archive

Three of the tournament's best shirts came from the same brief. Spain's red home carried a yellow and blue diamond pattern last seen at the 1994 World Cup, and it remains divisive in the best way. Mexico followed on from their 1990 versions with an all-over graphic recalling their 1994 print. Colombia's yellow was drawn directly from their iconic 1990 design, still the shirt most people picture when they think of Colombian football.

Spain's is the one that has aged into a cult favourite. You will find that lineage running through our best Spain jerseys of all time guide, and the wider national team jerseys range covers the current releases.

Japan, Russia and Belgium: pattern beats plain

Japan's blue shirt used a white print imitating sashiko, the traditional Japanese stitching technique, which is still one of the most tasteful graphic ideas any brand has brought to a World Cup. Russia's deep maroon home shirt was a revision of the Soviet Union jersey worn at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a smart choice for a host nation with a complicated kit history. Belgium refreshed the black, yellow and red argyle print from their Euro 1984 design, and the shirt has been resold at a premium ever since.

These are the kind of designs that make people start collecting seriously. Our classic jerseys and retro jerseys sections are where the originals behind these tributes live.

France, Nike and the second star

France's navy Nike home shirt was the plainest of the headline kits and arguably the most effective, with a subtle tonal graphic, a white collar trim and the cockerel crest sitting high on the chest. It is now a historically important shirt for a simple reason: the second star went above the badge after 15 July 2018, so the single-star 2018 version is a closed chapter.

Shirts from a winning campaign always hold their value best. Our France jerseys category tracks the current range, while the best France jerseys of all time sets 2018 against 1998 and the Platini era.

The outsiders: Iceland, Panama and Peru

Smaller suppliers produced some of the most charming 2018 World Cup kits. Erreà dressed Iceland for their first ever World Cup, New Balance did the same for Panama, and Umbro gave Peru a clean white shirt with the diagonal red sash on their return to the tournament after a 36-year absence. Senegal were supplied by Romai Sports, a Senegalese brand, and Tunisia by Uhlsport, both rarities at this level.

Peru's sash is the pick of them, and it is a reminder that a strong idea beats a big logo. For the African entries, our national teams hub and the Senegal and Morocco guides on our blog cover the ground in more detail.

Who supplied the 2018 World Cup kits

The supplier split tells you a lot about the shirt market at the time. adidas dressed twelve nations including Russia, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Egypt, Morocco, Iran and Sweden. Nike had ten, among them Brazil, England, France, Portugal, Croatia, Nigeria, Poland, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia. PUMA took Uruguay and Switzerland, Umbro had Peru and Serbia, New Balance had Costa Rica and Panama, and Hummel, Erreà, Uhlsport and Romai each had one. You can read FIFA's own tournament archive for the full squad and match record.

What makes the shirt pool unusual is who was missing. Italy and the Netherlands both failed to qualify, so two of football's great kit traditions sat the summer out entirely. If you are filling those gaps, our Italy shirts and Netherlands jerseys pages are the place to start, and Portugal jerseys covers the Nike side of 2018 Europe.

Buying and collecting 2018 World Cup kits today

Eight years is the awkward age for a shirt: official stock has gone, the retro reissues have not arrived, and the resale market has had time to fill with fakes. The Nigeria home, Belgium home, Japan home and Germany home are the four to be most careful with, because they are the ones worth faking. Check the applique on the crest, the stitching around the sponsor and the wash label codes, and be sceptical of anything described as new with tags at a bargain price.

Three of our guides do the heavy lifting here: authentic vs replica football jerseys explains what you are actually buying, how to spot counterfeit football jerseys covers the warning signs, and our football jersey size guide matters more than usual for this era, because 2018 player-issue cuts run noticeably tighter than replicas. For longer-term thinking, which jerseys gain value is worth ten minutes of your time.

Shop the shirts and keep the story going

The best 2018 World Cup kits earned their reputation by having something to say, and that is still the test we apply when we choose stock. Start with the national team jerseys range for current releases, dig into retro jerseys for the originals these designs borrowed from, or look ahead with our World Cup 2026 jerseys collection now that tournament has been played. If you are new to all this, the FAQ answers the sizing, shipping and authenticity questions we get most, and our round-ups of the best football kits of the 2014 World Cup and the best football kits of the 2010 World Cup complete the modern run.