The best football kits of the 2020s have been louder, weirder and far more design-led than anything the sport served up in the previous two decades. Streetwear culture, social-media hype drops and a new generation of kit designers turned the shirt into a cultural object as much as a piece of sportswear.
We have already covered the 2010s, the 2000s and the 1990s. Here is the decade we are still living through.
Why the best football kits of the 2020s look so different
Three things changed at once. Manufacturers stopped treating template shirts as acceptable for flagship nations, so national sides got bespoke graphics again. Sublimation printing got cheap enough that an all-over pattern costs roughly what a plain shirt does. And clubs realised a shirt that trends on social media sells to people who will never attend a match.
The result is a decade with more genuine design risk than any since the early nineties. If you want to see how far things have travelled, put a 2024 shirt next to something from our classic jerseys rail and the difference in ambition is obvious.
Argentina 2022 home: the shirt that ended 36 years of hurt
Design-wise it is restrained — the traditional sky blue and white stripes, adidas’ three stripes in black down the sleeve, a slightly warmer tone of blue than the 2018 version. What makes it one of the best football kits of the 2020s is context. Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup in it in Qatar, and within days it was the most in-demand shirt on the planet, with adidas unable to restock in most sizes.
It also completed a lineage we traced in our piece on Argentina’s jersey through the years. Browse the current Argentina jersey range or the wider South America section for the rest of CONMEBOL.
Japan 2022 home: origami, anime and adidas at its boldest
Japan’s Qatar home shirt used a folded-paper origami graphic in darker blue across the body, a nod to both craft tradition and the sport’s fan culture. It sold out repeatedly, and Japan’s group-stage wins over Germany and Spain gave it a highlight reel to match.
Japan have been the most consistently interesting kit nation of the decade — the follow-up away shirt used a brush-ink motif that looked closer to a gallery print than a football shirt. It is a reminder that the most creative work in kit design does not always come from the traditional powers in Europe.
Venezia 2021-22: a promoted side that became a fashion label
Venezia FC spent one season in Serie A and produced arguably the most talked-about club kit of the decade. The black home shirt with orange and green trim, an oversized gold crest and a genuinely elegant collar looked like something from a Milan runway. Kappa’s home shirt and the follow-up “Il Leone” designs sold worldwide to people who could not name a single player.
It proved something the big club teams had half-forgotten: identity beats budget. For Italian kit culture more broadly, see our Italy collection.
Italy 2023 home: adidas returns to the Azzurri
When adidas took over from Puma in 2023, the first Italy home shirt leaned into a lighter, brighter azzurro than fans had seen in years, with gold detailing on the crest and a clean ribbed collar. After a run of fussy designs, the simplicity landed. It is the sort of shirt that will still look right in fifteen years — the real test of any kit.
Ajax 2021-22 third: Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds
Black, with the red, gold and green of the Jamaican flag on the collar and three small birds on the back of the neck — a tribute to the long-running connection between Ajax’s Amsterdam support and “Three Little Birds”, which has been sung at the Johan Cruyff Arena for years. Adidas made a limited run and it sold out in under 24 hours.
It is the decade’s clearest example of a kit built from supporter culture upward rather than marketing downward, and it belongs in any list of the best football kits of the 2020s.
Morocco 2022 home: Puma’s Atlas Lions breakthrough
Deep red with a subtle zellige-tile pattern, green trim and the star of the flag on the chest. Morocco’s run to the World Cup semi-finals — the first ever by an African side, as FIFA records show — turned a well-made kit into a historic one. Demand outstripped supply across Europe and North Africa for months.
Germany 2024 away: pink, purple and unapologetic
Adidas gave Germany a pink-to-purple gradient away shirt for their home Euros, and the internet split down the middle before agreeing it was brilliant. It outsold the home shirt in several markets and became the unofficial shirt of the tournament. Find current designs in our Germany range, alongside Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium.
The Americas: Mexico, Brazil and the home nations of 2026
Adidas have given Mexico a series of strong green home shirts in this decade, several drawing on Aztec iconography rather than generic patterning. Brazil’s Nike work has been quieter but the 2022 home yellow with its subtle jaguar-print graphic was a smart update to a shirt that cannot be radically changed — see our Brazil collection and the wider North and Central America section.
England’s decade has been more mixed. The 2024 away shirt’s altered flag on the collar caused a genuine national row, which tells you how seriously people take this. Current designs sit in our England range and in the Premier League section for club shirts.
What this decade tells us about World Cup 2026
Expect bolder away kits, more heritage references and more limited drops. Manufacturers have learned that the shirts people queue for are the ones with a story, not the ones with the cleanest template. With 48 teams competing across the USA, Canada and Mexico, there will be more shirts released for this tournament than any in history — and more room for a Venezia-style surprise from a smaller nation.
Our World Cup 2026 jerseys hub tracks every confirmed release as it lands.
Building your own shortlist
If you are starting a collection, the best football kits of the 2020s are still affordable in a way that nineties shirts no longer are — the resale market has not yet caught up with them. Buy the shirts attached to moments you actually watched, and buy them in the size you will wear rather than the size that fits the stats.
Browse the full national teams range to start, check our FAQ for sizing and delivery, or read more about us and how we source our kits. Whatever you pick, wear it — a shirt that stays in the wardrobe never earns its place in a list like this one.
