The best ever World Cup shirts – and what makes them iconic

Some say you can measure a life by World Cups. Four-year notches on a timeline from wide-eyed kid to tuned-in teen and beyond. A showreel of footballing memories – teams you loved, heroes you worshipped, the iconic shirts they wore.

It is those shirts we’re looking at today. The jerseys that tell a story. Timeless masterpieces. But what is it that makes a kit’s legacy so enduring?

Matthew Wolff is best known for designing the hugely popular Nigeria outfits at the 2018 World Cup, as well as those for winners France.

The American’s portfolio includes Paris St-Germain, a host of Major League Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League teams, and even the United Soccer League club he co-founded, Vermont Green. So he knows his way around a kit.

“Most of my favourite football kits are from my childhood in the ’90s and early 2000s,” explains Wolff. “That’s the phase of life when the players really feel like superheroes and their kits feel so magical.

“Mexico 1998, USA 1994, Germany 1990 and 1994, Japan 1998, Nike’s set from 2002, even Cameroon’s sleeveless top in 2002. These are special kits in my mind because of how big and magnificent they felt to me as a young boy.

“A shirt becomes iconic partly because of what happened while someone was wearing it. The passage of time also changes how we perceive and appreciate a football kit.”