Our True Colours feature in our programme has been a hit, and so throughout lockdown we thought we would ask the same contributors for their favourite World Cup kits as opposed to the usual Premier League picks.

Last week we looked at the 1998 World Cup kits, and up next is the 2002 World Cup. A massive thank you to our contributors to the article - Russell Cox, AETShirts, The Shirt Union and The Graphic Bomb.

The Shirt Union
World Cup 2002 brought in a new experience for international tournaments, waking up early before school/work to cram in a game or two and hoping that your teacher/boss would let you continue to watch the games as they encroached on the first hour of the normal learning/working day.

If you were to name a template that would define the 2002 World Cup, then you couldn’t look much further than the Nike 2002 template. 8 nations donned the iconic template with triangular and square panels that dominated the sides and sleeves of the jerseys. It was instantly recognisable, and for me had a larger impact than Adidas who had an impressive 9 nations representing the 3 stripes. A couple of nations spring to mind when recalling this template, but the standout nation has to be Brazil. Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and of course Golden Boot winner Ronaldo all ensured that Brazil enjoyed their revival as worthy World Cup winners.

Although it’s an iconic template, not every nation did it proud, including the co-hosts South Korea. For some reason the Nike 2002 template design was accompanied by 2 layers of curved lines on the main body panel, looking like a couple of WiFispots had been located from the players’ shorts and armpit. I don’t even know if WiFi was a thing back in 2002, but I like to think this inspired the WiFi iconography we see today.

South Korea of course famously knocked out one of the tournament favourites Italy from the competition. An Italian team that boasted the likes of Maldini, Totti and Del Piero. An Italian team with Trapattoni at the helm. An Italian team who had a plain shirt that was bucking the trend of over-engineered panels, trims, dots and collars. The Kappa logo had made way on the front of the jersey relocating itself onto the sleeves, and the modern Italian crest was replaced by a simplified version similar to their 1940’s crest, it was a head turner. It looked classy just like the men who played in the jersey, but less like the football they played that summer.

Our least favoured kits are usually plucked out because of our subjective (otherwise known as poorly judged) views on designs, colourways or graphics. Cameroon’s inclusion in our list however come because of a FIFA sanction which forced the African to adapt their shirt. Earlier that year The Lions had lifted the African Nations trophy in a sleeveless shirt. It hadn’t
been done before and was causing waves in the football world. It looked great, they played great, but it wasn’t a ‘shirt’ – it was a vest. FIFA took exception to this break of the rules and wouldn’t allow the shirt at the tournament. In defiance, Puma did the minimal changes required and added black sleeves to the shirt so that the sleeveless design could still stand out, but it wasn’t the same.

Russell Cox
BEST:
Senegal
My first choice for 'best' kit is the Senegal home shirt. Made by Le Coq Sportif, it was mainly white but with red, yellow and green patches to represent the colours of the nation's flag. The 'Lions of Teranga' recorded a famous victory over France (who totally flopped in the tournament) before remaining unbeaten during the rest of the group stage in what was their debut World Cup. They would then go on to beat Sweden before losing to Turkey in the Quarter Final.

Argentina
For my second best shirt, I'm gonna go for the Argentina kit made by Adidas. A classic design made by a good manufacturer, what could go wrong - nothing of course. Unlike my previous pick, the Argentinians were seasoned World Cup campaigners but they went out in a difficult group stage with Sweden, Nigeria and England, thanks largely to a 1-0 defeat to the latter with a David Beckham penalty doing the damage

WORST
Nigeria
The 'Super Eagles' have had some great kits down the years, but this lurid green effort was not one of them and they finished bottom of their group, their only point coming in a 0-0 draw with England which was as dull as their shirt was bright.

Slovenia
It was a close call between this and Croatia's away shirt as my second worst kit but this one wins it, just. The team were sent packing with three defeats from three games and also had a pretty awful shirt to boot, with a band around the edge of the shirt and a zig-zag design, presumably meant to represent the mountains in their country.

AET Shirts
BEST
South Korea (A)
The real tournament of transition of 90s to modern shirt materials. Nike ruled while Brazil won it in futuristic Nike shirt South Korea’s was stand out. White away with bright red trim was worn in the unexpected run all the way to Semi Finals!

England (A)
Great red shirt by Umbro. Worn in 1-0 win over Argentina in Sapporo Dome. Fans version reversible to dark blue side with St George’s Cross badge.

WORST
Senegal (H)
Great opening victory over France wearing Le Coq Sportif shirt but it looked miles behind lots of modern Nike and Adidas shirts during this tournament.

Turkey (H)
Very plain shirt. Red with white Adidas 3 stripe trim. Badge added little as only country’s flag displayed.

The Graphic Bomb
BEST
Portugal (H)
That deep colour is what really makes me think of Portugal, don’t understand the lighter versions of red. Even think the usual jarring green in chevrons down the sides don’t bother me either. Whole kit looks great.

Argentina (A)
Classic colour way works lovely with the adidas template. The shoulder stripes with the lighter blues used on them are great. I think what also made this kit great was the font used for the numbers. Batisttuta played in this one, right? nice big number 9 on the back with his name and you’re winning.

WORST
Paraguay (A)
I know there are template kits etc etc. But who chose the colour on this? It looks like a boring Reading away kit from anytime in the 2000’s. Its just a really weird choice of orange. And I love orange!

Cameroon (A)
The home versions at least had the solid colour way of the green/red/yellow to carry it a bit. But they all just look like they’ve switched shirts with the national volleyball team or something. The white away looks like the kind of top you’d be given if you’d turned up to PE without any kit and you have use what’s left in lost property. Not good.