Category: European

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European International Tops Uncategorized

Thierry Henry – 2006 – Scotland vs France

The Euro 2008 qualifying campaign is a tough one to look back on as a Scotland fan, imagine getting your hopes up beating France twice before throwing it all away in the second last game against Georgia leaving it down to beating World Champion’s Italy on the last day of qualifying.

With that disappointment in the past now, we have some fond memories to look back on now including both historic victories against France, Home and Away.

This jersey comes from the home game at Hampden where Gary Caldwell netted the only goal of the game, in front of 57,000 fans, from a Paul Hartley corner in the 67th minute. For me this top is an absolute winner and one of the best French kits produced this side of the millennium. My favourite thing about it has to be the badge with the teams and date embroidered underneath is just a sheer touch of class by adidas.

Thierry Henry lined up along side fellow compatriots Eric Abidal, Frank Ribery, Claude Makelele, Lillian Thuram and Patrick Vieira but all this firepower couldn’t force its way through the defence of Caldwell and Weir.

The ex Arsenal and Barcelona forward gained 123 caps for France where he ranks 3rd on the al time appearance list, behind Hugo Lloris and Lilian Thuram. Henry also holds the record for most goals for France at 51 goals scored.

The club career of Thierry Henry is also outstanding, having played at the very top for most of his career with Juventus, Barcelona, Monaco and most notably Arsenal. It is at Arsenal where Henry really peaked, winning two Premier Leagues (one invincible) and two FA Cup’s, finishing runner up in the 2003 Ballon D’or, just behind Juventus star Pavel Nedved.

Thierry would win the Champions League at the second time of asking after his first ended in a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2006 with an 81st minute goal from Belletti sealed their fate. Two years later he would arrive at the Nou Camp and a year later getting to the final in Rome where Henry would call back the years to terrorise Manchester United once again.

In all, Thierry Henry is one of the best to ever do it with 360 goals in 789 games, a World Cup, European Championship, Champions League, multiple league winning medals and golden boots. He will also go down as one of my favourite players which isn’t as much of an achievement compared to the other awards listed.

Shout out to Graeme Alexander for lending me his collection of tops. Some more icons of the game coming soon.

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European International Tops

Alessandro Birindelli – Italy 03′

As Italy have just won the Euros, there is no better time to share this classic from a friendly game against Northern Ireland in the summer of 2003. Italy won the fixture 2-0 to no surprise as they had a squad filled with household names at the time such as Ballon D’or winner Fabio Cannavaro, Antonio Di Natalie and Alessandro Birindelli.

Birindelli origionally started his career as a right winger during his time at Empoli before dropping back into right back. It is with Empoli that Birirndelli would play almost 150 games, helping them get promoted back to back seasons from the Serie C1 to the Serie A.

The lifelong Juventus fan would eventually get his move to the star studded side that would bolster the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids, Allessandro Del Piero and Filipo Inzaghi. Birindelli would go on to win 3 Serie A titles and 3 Suppercoppa Italiana’s before Juventus’s relegation at the end of the 2005/06 season due to the Calciopoli match fixing scandal which saw Juventus, alongside Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina be deducted points and fined but it was only Juventus who were to be relegated to Serie B. Juventus were also stripped of their 04/05 Serie A title.

Juventus won the Serie B with a six point gap above Napoli even after being given a 9 point deduction at the start of the season. This is no surprise as a handful of their star players stayed to help lift the super club back from the ashes. Players such as Birindelli, Trezeguet, Buffon, Chiellini, Nedved and Del Peiro all stayed loyal with Del Piero winning the golden boot for the season.

Birindelli would leave Juventus in 2008 after spending 11 years in Turin and moving to Pisa for a season then eventually retiring after a season with Valle del Giovenco. His son Samuele Birindelli currently plays centre half for Pisa and has made over 130 appearances since is debut in 2016.

This jersey was Puma’s first take on the Italian National Team and have managed to keep supplying belters ever since. A plain kit that looks very elegant with the blue tone that Italy have used for years plus the badge on this jersey is probably personal favourite of mine and agree that it should be used more often. The three stars above the puma badge on the sleeve is also a nice added feature.

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European International Tops

Forza Italia / Andrea Pirlo

Italy are going to be playing in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley tonight and what better way to get you in the mood than having a read at this.

Winners of four World Cups and a European Championship, Italy have always been one of the best in the world but over the last few years it hasn’t been easy supporting the Italian National Team. In 2018, Italy dropped down to 14th in the FIFA world rankings after failing to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. After failure to qualify, Italy would start their rebuild by hiring manager Roberto Mancini and haven’t looked back since.

Starting off the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Turkey and then another 3-0 win over Switzerland saw Italy qualify with one group game to spare but a 1-0 win over Wales saw Italy become the only team this tournament to qualify through the group without conceding a goal.

They haven’t had an easy route to the final either after beating Austria 2-1 after extra time, Belgium 2-1 and Spain 4-2 on penalties, they thoroughly deserve their place in this final.

Looking back to Italy’s last major trophy takes us back to the 2006 World Cup that was played in Germany. When you think about this final, two things come to mind. The first being Zinedine Zidane’s famous headbutt and the second being Andrea Pirlo’s man of the match performance. Beating France in penalties after full time ended 1-1 with Pirlo taking one of Italy’s penalties. France scored in the 9th minute after Zidane converted a penalty into Gigi Buffon. Italy equalised not long after in the 19th minute with Marco Materazzi scoring from an excellent delivery from an Andrea Pirlo corner.

Andrea Pirlo is not only one of Italy’s greatest ever players but is regarded as one of the best deep lying playmakers ever. Capped 114 times for Italy, Pirlo has played for Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, going on to manage The Old Lady for the 20/21 season.

This jersey comes from Italy’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Northern Ireland. The Italian’s left with a draw after an excellent effort from the Northern Irish forcing a 0-0 stalemate.

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European International Tops

Sweden – 98/99

Currently ranked 18th in the world, the Swedish Men’s National Team have been making a name for themselves recently as they have managed to qualify for both knockout rounds of the current Euro 2020 and the 2018 World Cup under head coach Janne Andersson who took over the blue and yellow in 2016 after they finished bottom of their group in Euro 2016.

Unfortunately Sweden never qualified for the 1998 World Cup and this kit was never displayed on the world stage, however they did wear it during their qualification for Euro 2000 which they did end up qualifying for. Two loses to Italy and Belgium and a draw against Turkey meant Sweden finished bottom of their group with the one point.

During this time, Sweden did have two soon to be world class talents in their squad with Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg being their two powerhouses. Larsson was just at the youth of his Celtic career while Ljungberg had just been signed by Arsenal. Over the years, both players were first team regulars with Larsson gaining 106 caps and Ljungberg gaining a respectable 75 caps.

Ljungberg would go on to lift two Premier League titles, one being Arsenal’s invincible season, and three FA Cups while totalling 241 Premier League appearances for Arsenal and West Ham. On the other hand, Henrik Larsson would lift four Scottish Premierships, with Celtic, and two La liga titles and a Champions League with FC Barcelona while claiming four Swedish Player of the Year awards from 2001-2004.

As for this top, the thing that stood out to me straight away was the collar. A nice open 90’s style collar that opens at the front showing a smaller badge on the blue underneath. Also you don’t find many tops nowadays that have laces on the chest which I think makes this look stunning.

Other details you will find on this jersey is faint lines traveling down the strip with the Sweden badge facing upwards and downwards. Also the Adidas three stripes travelling down the sleeves, around the collar and on the laces on the front.

In all I think the colour combination for Sweden kits are a delight and I am glad I managed to pick this one up from Classic football Shirts during my time in London. It really is the worlds biggest football shirt collection.

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European International Tops

Rene Hasler – Switzerland 76′

As Switzerland begin to face up against Italy on matchday two of Euro 2020, we’re going back in time to show off this golden oldie from when Scotland hosted the Swiss back in 1976.

Rene Hasler was a 5ft 7′ defender who played his full career in Switzerland with FC Zurich, FC Basel for two separate spells and Neuchâtel Xamax FCS.

Starting his career way back in 1969 at FC Zurich, where he would win the Swiss Cup before moving onto FC Basel. It is during his time in Basel Hasler would earn his first cap for Switzerland which would be on the 21st of October 1972 against Italy in a 0-0 draw. Rene’s last international appearance would end with a 2-1 defeat to Spain.

This jersey is from Switzerland’s clash with Scotland from the 7th of April 1976. The game ended 1-0 to Scotland with Willie Pettigrew scoring on his debut for his country inside the first two minutes of the game.

Rene Hasler, Second up on the right column.

This Adidas classic is similar to many from around that time with a simple two colour combination with one being the main body, white, and the other being used for the collar and Adidas stripes, red. The colours used being from the Swiss flag as shown as the badge.

This top also features a black Adidas branding which other Adidas made kits did not during this time. One such case would be the Netherlands top which is featured on the website that is Adidas but only shows the stripes with no branding.

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European International Tops

Jan Everse – Netherlands 76′

Not a common household name, Jan Everse was a left back for Holland who spent all his days in his home country playing for Feyenoord between 1972 – 1977 and Ajax between 1977 – 1980. Everse only played for eight years before being forced into retirement. However, during this short career Jan managed to be called up to both Holland under 23’s and then the Holland national team, winning two caps against Belgium and Yugoslavia.

This top comes from Scotland versus Holland during the European Under-23 Championships in March 1976 where the match was played out in front of an incredible crowd of 32,593 at Easter Road. This Scotland team consisted of players such as Joe Jordan of Leeds United, Derek Johnstone of Rangers and Willie Pettigrew of Motherwell, who would go on to swap jerseys with Jan after the game.

Having won the first leg 2-0, Holland would lose this game 2-0 with goals coming from Derek Johnstone and Colin Jackson. taking the game to extra time and eventually penalties where the dutch would succeed and take their place in the next round of the tournament. The Dutch would soon feel the same heartbreak as the Scots as they were beaten in the semi-final by the eventual winners, the Solviet Union.

This Adidas top is identical to the jersey wore by the Netherlands in the 1976 European Championships as it features the bold black collar with the iconic Adidas three stripes running down the sleeve towards a thick black cuff. A simple top, as all jerseys only featured the badge and the players number (No trefoil on this jersey), the flying dutchmen always make their kit stand out due to their use of the colour orange which signifies the Dutch Royal Family and William I of Orange who led the country to independence back in the day. A bright kit that is instantly recognisable to everyone, fans of the Oranje should remember this top for years to come.

2 5 7 9 10 11 14 1970's 1990's 2000's Adidas Admiral Australia Black Blue Borussia Dortmund Celtic Chelsea Claret and Amber Diadora England English European Everton Germany Green International Italian Liverpool Macron Motherwell Nike Orange Pony Puma Purple Rangers Red Scotland Scottish Umbro Wales White Xara Yellow

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European International Tops

Andreas Möller – Germany 96′

A legend with Die Mannschaft, Andreas Möller has won it all from the World Cup in 1990 to the Champions League in 1997. After starting his career in 1885 with Eintracht Frankfurt, he would move to Borussia Dortmund for just over one million euros. This would be his first spell at Borussia Dortmund where he would leave after his contract expired only winning the DFB-Pokal during his two years before returning to Frankfurt. After leaving Dortmund, Möller would be called up for the Italia 90 World Cup which West Germany would go on to win in the final against Argentina. This would be the last tournament for West Germany before it would be reunified with East Germany.

Credit –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LojMTXmRF8

After leaving Frankfurt for a second time, Möller would this time end up in Italy with a Juventus team that would consist of Roberto Baggio, Paolo Di Canio, David Platt and Antonio Conte. In his first season with The Old Lady Andreas would win the UEFA Cup, beating his previous employers, Borussia Dortmund, 3-1 at the Westfalenstadion and 3-0 at the Stadio delle Alpi with Moller scoring in the second leg.

Juventus came second in the Serie A and quarterfinalists in the UEFA Cup so with Möller being trophyless he would return to Germany with a second stint at Borussia Dortmund where he would go on to win two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League. During the 1994/95 first round of the UEFA Cup, Moller scored the only goal of the first leg when Borussia Dortmund played Motherwell which is where Dortmund would first spot future signing Paul Lambert.

Credit –
https://www.fifa.com/photos/galleries/andreas-moller-germany-2225237#germany-andreas-moller-and-paul-ince-england-challenge-for-the-ball-uefa-1894652

Where Möller is mostly remembered however would be when he scored the decisive penalty against England in the semi-final of Euro 96 as Germany would go on to lift the trophy. Over his career, the German international would be capped eighty-five times for his country, scoring twenty-nine goals.

Euro 96 would be where this Germany home top would be showcased in front of the world. This top has so much detail throughout it, showing off different sizes of the German Football Association logo in vertical stripes. The collar, cuffs and stars above the badge are all in the colours of the Germany flag with a small flag in between in buttons of the shirt. The shirt would not be complete if it were not for the iconic adidas stripes running down each sleeve with the black stripes contrasting along the white shirt. The number seven is not featured on the front of this jersey as this top was used in a German friendly rather than a major tournament as shown in the the photos above.

2 5 7 9 10 11 14 1970's 1990's 2000's Adidas Admiral Australia Black Blue Borussia Dortmund Celtic Chelsea Claret and Amber Diadora England English European Everton Germany Green International Italian Liverpool Macron Motherwell Nike Orange Pony Puma Purple Rangers Red Scotland Scottish Umbro Wales White Xara Yellow