Soccer players and fans are familiar with reversible soccer jerseys. They usually come to mind when thinking back to youth soccer days when each players had an inexpensive and usually not too comfortable reversible jersey to easily allow one team to change colors when there was a conflict.
But this does not mean that the reversible jersey has not been tried at the club or international level. adidas and Germany most recently tried the reversible look(s) with the Germany 2016 Away Soccer Jersey. The pair has taken the look to an all-new level with the ‘reverse’ side being made to look like a soccer training bib.
The jersey got us thinking about other reversible looks and we came up with our list of the style.
The England national team takes the prize for trying to pull together the reversible look with 2 reversible jerseys while with technical sponsor Umbro in the early 2000’s. These were the first reversible jerseys made for an international team.
The 2002/04 away jersey was the first to have a dual color look and was used at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The primary side was red with a v-neck collar with the Three Lions logo of the FA over the heart and Umbro logo over the right chest. The reverse side was navy blue with v-neck collar. The secondary color featured the Flag of England badge over the right chest and Umbro logo over the left.
The Three Lions must have liked the look as their 2003-05 jersey was a reversible as well. The jersey was used at Euro 2004 when they lost out in the quarterfinals. The jersey was designed to have the home shirt (worn during matches) and a leisure shirt. The white jersey on both sides were very similar. Both white jerseys features feint horizontal blue detail stripes although the stripes on the leisure shirt were more distinct. The home jersey featured a white polo collar with modern ‘Y’ cut in the front and the Three Lions logo on the center of the jersey. There was a red panel over the back of the shoulders. The leisure shirt had similar polo collar and ‘Y’ cut but was in blue and had the Flag of England logo in the center of the jersey. The shoulder panel was also in blue.
Umbro evidently thought they were on to the wave of the future. The Double Diamond also had club sides Manchester United and Chelsea of the English Premier League as well as Mexico’s Cruz Azul and Peru’s Club Universitario de Deportes in reversible jerseys and during the early 2000’s.
Marseille and adidas unveiled a reversible 3rd jersey for the Ligue 1 club for 2012/13. Marseille rapper Akhenaton helped with the design. The primary side intended for use in matches was black with orange details while the secondary side was orange. The orange color was selected to make a statement against racism in the game. The club’s South Winners supporters group regularly wore their bomber jackets inside out exposing the orange liner as a visual rejection of rival right-wing bomber wearing skinhead supporters.
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The reversible jersey is also a very popular idea for celebrating special occasions. I guess the club thinks their fans deserve a special 2 for the price of 1 deal.
The Real Madrid Centenario 3rd jersey was reversible. The primary side was the traditional purple and included the club badge and adidas logo over the left and right chest, respectively, and the Siemens Mobile front-of-jersey sponsorship logo across the chest. The reverse side was white with the club logo on the right sleeve and the adidas logo on the left sleeve. The Centennial logo, four beams of golden light with the dates 1902-2002, is on the center chest.
St Pauli celebrated their 100th anniversary with a reversible jersey for 2010/11. The cooper-colored jersey featured a crew collar, piping, and sleeve cuffs in a shined cooper look to distinguish it from the rest of the jersey. The reverse side was a brownish color with images from the club’s history sublimated in the fabric.
Technical sponsor Penalty went all-in ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They outfitted 5 of their Brazilian clubs – São Paulo, Vasco da Gama, Figueirense, Santa Cruz and Ceará – in reversible jerseys. The primary side made from the club’s traditional colors while the reverse featured a Yellow/Green colorway in tribute to the colors of the Brazilian national team.
Kaiserlautern unveiled a reversible jersey in memory of their most famous player Fritz Walter in conjunction for what would have been his 90th birthday in 2010. The club’s stadium, the Fritz Walter Stadion’ is also named after the player. The tribute jersey was maroon with a v-neck collar and gold details. The reverse side was white with a number of logos on the top right and left chest of the jersey.
What reversible jerseys are we missing? Do you like the reversible jersey as a fan? Should a club create a reversible jersey with the home shirt on one side and the away shirt on the other?
