With the 2022 World Cup underway, we have put together a small post to highlight one of the underrated aspects of a new major international tournament, new football kits.

Every single country has come into this tournament with a new attire and, although there are some shockers in this list, there’s also a fair few instant classics. As a result, we have put together our top 5 World Cup kits from the current tournament.

Do let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) which would make your top 5, and what you make of our selections.

*We have decided not to feature any images with these kit choices due to image rights issues and wanting to produce our own imagery in the future. Apologies if this makes the reading more challenging or difficult.*

5. Denmark (Away)

This first one on the list is more about it’s significance than anything else design related. Hummel and the Danish national side have made their kits into a small yet significant statement of respect and protest against the loss of thousands of lives of migrant workers and the human rights concerns coming from this tournament. Like most, we want to support our nation, enjoy the football and yet cannot just ignore the background to this tournament, and so this is a very respectful way of doing just that.

The home, away and third kits are all designed in a very basic manner, with badges and logos all in keeping with the main kit colour. The resulting impact works well, and with some expecting potentially some big things from Denmark in this competition, we may see them get use off all 3 versions.

Our choice for the 5th spot does go to the 3rd shirt, which is an all black jersey with again all logos and crests coloured in black also. While the design aspects of this shirt aren’t perhaps as bold and creative as those we are about to discuss, this one certainly deserves a place on this list for it’s message alone.

4. Argentina (Home)

My main tip for the tournament, Argentina could see their latest shirt become a key part of their massive footballing history, should they get this tournament over the line, and of course the significance of this tournament for Lionel Messi is well documented no matter what.

The shirt itself is one of many hits from Adidas this tournament, and keeps to the very simple and traditional, blue and white stripes. It’s quite simple in design and doesn’t look to alter the classic design too much, and for me this is exactly what I would want. This shirt could look pretty good if the team can lift the trophy in it, while the shirt’s simplistic design will let the football do the talking.

3. Mexico (Away)

While Mexico will be expecting to progress through the group stages and make a real dent on this tournament, their away kit has already won the hearts of many, with what I believe is Mixtec art designs and Aztec deities, they are hoping to bring about a fighting spirit in this tournament to ensure they can push far into this tournament.

This shirt just shows the efforts put in by Adidas for this tournament, as they haven’t gone for just used the same template for every nation, and instead elected to make each country have their own ‘feel’ and respect their history in coming to this tournament. Whether paying tribute to the country itself, or to teams and generations of previous years, they have just got this one perfect.

2. South Korea (Away)

Given all the praise for Adidas in this tournament, Nike did have a few hits also, although this choice for our no.2 has actually been disregarded by others I have seen. The South Korea away shirt is a black jersey with multicoloured brush strokes providing some bold colour.

South Korea are in a strange spot this tournament, as they have a talismanic figure in Son, yet in their group with Portugal, Uruguay and Ghana, things could be quite tough in Group H. I am hopeful that whether they can get out of their group or not, this shirt gets a run out at some point.

1. Japan (Away)

Our choice for the first spot and the best World Cup kit of this winters tournament has to go to Japan, and in particular their away shirt. I have surprised myself by not putting the home jersey in the top 5, however I wanted to provide a mixture of different nations, however Adidas have pulled it out of the bag for Japan this tournament.

With the home shirt a blue ‘origami’ style patterned design, the away shirt does incorporate some of this into the sleeve design, but keeps the main body of the shirt looking crisp, clean and with the subtle design flair. It ticks all the boxes for me as it isn’t too overbearing, yet it pays homage to the country while also having some creative design aspects, making it my instant no.1