20 Rare Football Shirts That Are A Thing Of Beauty

Football shirts are still a thing of beauty, but between 1980 and 2000 they were simply phenomenal. Basically before Nike and Adidas (among others) started to craftily churn out generic, ultra dry-fit, laser-cut, mesh ventilated, skinny-fit jerseys, the football fashion world was a lot more avant-garde and it was fabulous. These days most football shirts resemble nothing more than a five-a-side essential or a sweat-stained gym garment. They normally have a static, bobbly feel and are barely even accepted as suitable bed-wear. Yet, rewind back at couple of decades and it was a different story. The original cotton shirts were replaced by artificial polyester fabrics in 1980 and more manufacturers became involved with an eye for developing intricate and striking kit design due to the huge amount of money being injected into top flight football.

I€™ve rummaged around the internet to bring you the most stylish, innovational and garish football shirts that are not only pyjama worthy but (in most cases) would be perfectly acceptable to go clubbing in.

20. Ajax Away Shirt (1989-90)

Estimated Price: £120 This was the Ajax Away Shirt that the team wore during the 1989-90 season where they won the Eredivisie title under manager, Leo Beenhakker. The shirt was only worn for one season and is extremely rare, it's crazy design and minimal TDK (who also sponsored Crystal Palace between 1993 and 1998) logo made Umbro's shirt stand out from the crowd.