From the United States to England
With two major tournaments mere months away, Nike has released a bundle of new international kits for 2024, with brand new designs for heavy hitters such as Brazil, England, France, the Netherlands, and the United States at Euro 2024 and the Copa America, Chris Wright, Toe Poke writer for ESPN, reports.
The kits are linked by a unilateral design language that has modernized and augmented each nation’s traditional identity and regalia through what Nike refers to as the “metaprism”—an artistic lens that has helped push each one into brave new realms of color and detailing.
Inspiration has mainly been taken from national flags and emblems. However, more esoteric sources have also been employed, such as flora and fauna, geography, traditional ceramics, ancient Asian pearl inlays, and even 1990s ice hockey.
Here, we go through each federation’s new home and away kits, analyze the various thematic and prismatic concoctions, and assign them all a cast-iron rating out of 10.
UNITED STATES HOME
The United States will be positively dripping in patriotic symbolism as it prepares to host the 2024 Copa America. Trinity Rodman shows off a home jersey that is primarily white, with a textured knit to the fabric and matching collar and cuff trim that borrow heavily from the Stars & Stripes, the national flag.
Rating: 6.5/10
UNITED STATES AWAY
The away kit is altogether more outlandish. The old red, white, and blue are used to create a glitchy, spiked graphic that splits the jersey into three distinct diagonal bands of color. The shirt, worn by Sergiño Dest, also carries the slogan “One Nation, One Team” around a rosette printed inside the back of the collar.
Rating: 7.5/10
ENGLAND HOME
After failing to win wholesale approval from fans with the unusual blue gradient that adorned the shoulders of the 2023 home kit, England returned to traditional fare in 2024. Jude Bellingham & Co. wore a classically styled jersey with minimal blue-and-red trim adorning a field of pristine white, which in turn has a crinkled pattern woven into the fabric. Quintessential, maybe, but not particularly interesting. And that folded collar looks downright uncomfortable.
Rating: 6.5/10 (including a bonus 0.5 marks for the sash)
ENGLAND AWAY
Lauren James will look dapper in a chalky navy/indigo hue. The away kit is lifted above the average by a speckling of tasteful trim that includes a beautiful inverted colorway of the Three Lions badge, various golden accouterments, and an artsy side panel filled with abstract stripes and shapes inspired by the cross of St. George.
Rating: 9/10
BRAZIL HOME
Brazil has been furnished with its traditional yellow, green, and blue palette, though on closer inspection, the jersey to be worn by Vinícius Júnior contains much more subtle detail. The lemony yellow base is mottled by an all-over pattern that includes elements of the Brazilian flag, fern trees, and even jaguars, while stylized ocean waves roll gently around the sleeve cuffs.
It’s also worth noting the high, folded V-neck collar that Nike has used as a template for several of their latest international kit releases — a curious design that is certain to divide opinion.
Rating: 7.5/10
BRAZIL AWAY
The ocean motif takes a prominent position in the design of the away kit, with the green and blue wavy pattern that adorns the sleeve cuffs of the home shirt being plastered all over Brazil’s secondary strip and is accented with a bright turquoise trim to cap off the aquatic theme.
Rating: 7/10
FRANCE HOME
It’s unlikely to be the only new shirt worn by Kylian Mbappé this season.
Looking like it was lifted directly from the 1970s, France’s new home shirt is a retro-infused offering that features little in the way of detail beyond a deliberately asymmetrical tricolor collar, a faux “knitted” texture to the material, and a genuinely monstrous FFF federation crest—tres bonne.
Rating: 7/10
FRANCE AWAY
France’s change strip is predominantly white, with simple blue-and-red block trim on the collar and cuffs and that same enormous cockerel emblem affixed to the chest. Pinstripes run vertically down the entire strip and subtly change from blue to red across the latitudinal plane. Unfortunately, the pinstripes also continue onto the shorts, rendering the whole thing a bit of a retina-pummeling mess.
Rating: 4.5/10
PORTUGAL HOME
Could this be the last Portugal jersey worn by Cristiano Ronaldo?
Portugal‘s new home kit is nothing revolutionary, though the red used is much lighter and “redder” than the deeper maroon tones we’ve seen in recent years. The design is routine, straightforward, and template-driven, but at least the base color is bright and bold.
Rating: 6/10
PORTUGAL AWAY
For the second consecutive year, Portugal will play in an away kit inspired by traditional ceramics. The 2024 edition specifically emphasizes the ornate glazed patterns of the Azulejo tiles, which have been widely used to decorate churches, palaces, homes, and even restaurants for centuries. The white shirt has a faded, deliberately shabby blueprint that lends the “tiles” a well-worn look.
Rating: 7.5/10
NETHERLANDS HOME
After being mellowed and rumpled for the 2023 home kit, the Oranje has been reinvigorated for 2024. The Netherlands’ historic national colors are amplified to a particularly vivid hi-vis tone that gives off a low hum and has even been officially listed as “Safety Orange.” The trim is a relatively straightforward set of royal blue blocks and bands elsewhere.
Rating: 6/10
NETHERLANDS AWAY
2024 doesn’t look like a vintage year for the Netherlands (at least as far as their kits are concerned), with the away strip falling some distance short of the great Dutch alternative jerseys of yore. A dark blue base is a canvas for a reasonably ugly, muddled rectangular pattern that looks suspiciously like it might have been taken from a sample book of 1980s public transport seat upholstery. Grim.
Rating: 4/10
NIGERIA HOME
Swapping their primary colorway around for the first time in several years, Nigeria has been plied with a white home kit for 2024 that is imbued with the “Naija” spirit, which is printed across the chest and housed inside an enormous Eagle motif woven into the fabric. The unorthodox look bestowed upon Victor Osimhen is then topped off with a strange square neckline, which we honestly can’t recollect ever seeing on a football jersey.
Rating: 7/10
NIGERIA AWAY
Using black as a base color, Nigeria’s away kit is covered in a blotchy graphic print to represent the connection between the African country’s creative communities. We’ll have to take Nike’s word for that, but it certainly looks the part, regardless.
Rating: 7/10
NORWAY HOME
Having failed to qualify for Euro 2024, Norway can at least take solace in the fact that they will be looking fantastic while they sit at home watching the tournament unfold in Germany. The new home shirt is a wild, striped affair cobbled together using elements of the national flag and the sharp, cleaving edges of Viking swords. It’ll look sharp on Erling Haaland.
Rating: 7/10
NORWAY AWAY
A lot of thought has been put into the away kit, which is a white-out design inspired by the Arctic Circle’s snowy tundra and icy floes. The ribbon-like ripple of the graphic also references the Northern Lights and will be worn by Caroline Graham Hansen and Co.
Rating: 6/10
CANADA HOME
Intended as a celebration of Canada‘s sporting DNA, the most notable aspect of the red home shirt is the unique inverted, two-tone Nike swoosh, which is lifted directly from retro ice hockey jerseys.
Rating: 6/10
CANADA AWAY
The away shirt is a basic color swap of the home shirt, with a white shirt adorned with 13 thin red pinstripes: 10 to represent the modern-day provinces of Canada and an additional three for the federation’s original territories, which were unified in 1867. Other than that, it’s all a little bit underwhelming.
Rating: 6.5/10
CHINA HOME
China‘s home kit is a simple design with a predominantly red shirt and austere yellow-and-black trim on the sleeve cuffs. The twin dragons on the national crest are repeated as a decal inside the back of the collar.
Rating: 4/10
CHINA AWAY
The away shirt is similarly stripped down with a white shirt and the same colored cuff trim found on the home jersey. There is nothing more to mention here.
Rating: 3/10
CROATIA HOME
While the fundamentals of Croatia‘s latest kits remain largely unchanged, the famous red and white checks (taken from the national coat of arms) are much larger than usual and thus dramatically change the design’s appearance. We feel the oversized tiles make the jersey look a little too sparse.
Rating: 5/10
CROATIA AWAY
We much prefer the look of the away kit, which sees the ever-present Croatian checks rendered in shades of blue and tilted diagonally to create a diamond pattern, complete with flashes of red pinstriping.
Rating: 7/10
SOUTH KOREA HOME
South Korea‘s shimmering new shirts are inspired by the Asian nation’s artistic traditions. The usual red palette of the home strip is updated with a pinkish, almost metallic blush. The pattern is supposed to reflect Korean architecture, and the bright, contrasting turquoise trim makes the whole thing pop.
Rating: 7.5/10
SOUTH KOREA AWAY
The iridescent marbling pattern on Korea’s away jersey is drawn from the country’s famous mother-of-pearl lacquerware—the ornate inlays used to decorate furniture, ceramics, and jewelry for centuries. The effect is splendid and will look best sparkling beneath the floodlights on match day.
Rating: 8.5/10
POLAND HOME
As usual, it’s thoroughly dull stuff from Poland, which has been lumbered with the same painfully boring plain white/basic red trim design they’ve been toiling away in since the late 1930s. We’re aware that there are only two colors on the national flag; thus, options are limited, but it wouldn’t hurt to experiment with the Eagles’ primary strip once in a while.
Rating: 4/10
POLAND AWAY
Surprise, surprise. Poland’s new away strip is red with white trim. However, it does at least feature an all-over dot graphic that gives the material a shimmering effect. Robert Lewandowski and Co. They haven’t qualified for Euro 2024 yet (they could make it through the playoffs later this month), but judged solely on their kits alone, it’s hard to imagine anybody noticing either way.
Rating: 5/10
TURKEY HOME
Unfortunately, we are again looking at bog standard stuff for Turkey, which will be the same kit configuration as they always do. The home is plain white with a broad band of red around the chest that houses the national moon and star crest.
Rating: 4/10
TURKEY AWAY
Alas, Turkey’s new away kit is even more devoid of interest. The very plain red shirts are decorated with nothing more than a large, white moon and star on the chest. Honestly, it looks like little thought, creativity, or effort went into designing it.
Rating: 2/10
