For the first time in the competition’s history the World Cup moved away from Europe and Americas and was held on Asian Continent, the 17th Tournament hosted by both South Korea and Japan, which also was another first with a jointly hosted competition. Following from France 98, the format remained the same and gave us 32 teams competing in 8 groups of 4 teams, followed by knock out stage of the competition, totaling in 64 games.
In terms of the kits seen in the tournament, there was a real identity per manufacture, I do not want to use the word template as there were some subtle differences with the shirts that made them a little for unique than a standard template, in particular with those Nations that had Nike kits in 2002.
Looking at the manufacturers, again as in France 98 there was 12 manufacturers on show at the tournament, Adidas leading the way once more but there was an increase in the number of teams wearing the three stripes, with 10 from the 6 from four years earlier. Nike had 8 representative and Puma 4, so the “Big 3” making up nearly 70% of the nations appearing. There were some notable manufacturers in the rest of the kit suppliers, Kappa, Hummel, Le Coq Sportif, Joma, Umbro (who supplied England and Ireland) and Uhlsport. There were some lesser known names in Marathon, L.Sporto and Athletica, supplying some of the Central and South American Nations.
It was certainly a bright World Cup in terms of colours, Nike’s Nigeria and South Korea kits were reminiscent of highlighter pens, in particular the Nigerian Kit which in the first game was paired with white numbers and names, which proved not to be that visible to watching millions and was quickly replaced by black alternatives for the rest of the competition.
Almost all Nations had a splash of colour or detailing on their shirts, one notable exception to this was Italy, whose Kappa kit stood out as a classic Italian Shirt, a lighter shade of blue used, a balance in the first and second choice kits topped off with a more tighter cut than other kits used – certainly not a kit with those with kind of build that I have.
Another kit to call out and look into a little more detail is Cameroon’s kit, here they (or Puma) looked to do something different and never seen before, to combat the heat and humidity they proposed a sleeveless kit and in fact used a sleeveless version of the kit they wore prior to the tournament, however FIFA did not allow this kit to be worn in the actual tournament and black sleeves were added to both the first and second choice shirts. Cameroon would try to break kit boundaries two years later with an all in one kit.
Eventual winners Brazil, wore their traditional yellow shirt with three different combinations of shorts and socks, the classic blue shorts and white socks against Chine and Turkey (twice, group and semi-final), white shorts and blue socks against Costa Rica and blue shorts and blue socks in the final against Germany, a rarely seen variation of the kit which will go down in history as it was the one worn to lift the trophy for a record 5th time.
Feel free to share your kit highlights from 2002 World Cup.
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 