Our regular guest series over on MuseumOfJerseys.com is back, with installment number nine of the Cold War Classic. In each edition we usually discuss a vintage east vs west international matchup from the Cold War era, specifically relating to the amazing and fascinating kits of the time and their evolution. Detailed backgrounds are included, and all retro kits relevant to the story are expertly illustrated in glorious colour by MOJ top boy Denis Hurley.
This time we take a look at when player names were briefly popular on international shirts in 1981, as England would most definitely find out.
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Cold War Classic no.9 – Hungary vs England, 1981
…By the time the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, the classic three-stripe motif first seen on French kits 20 years earlier had evolved to large post-modern blocks covering one or both shoulders with the adidas trefoil receiving a similar fate. And, following their historical cameos, front numbers began to appear full-time on shirts used in international tournaments. Another new addition seen at the 1992 European Championships was the player’s last name on the back above the squad number.
Like front numbers, names had appeared on American football jerseys and in other American sports for decades, including the North American Soccer League of the 70s and 80s. As it turned out, adidas’s updated Equipment design for the 1990s was not really the ideal template with which to introduce the concept to European football, as it meant the letters would have to pass through two different colours if it was a medium-to-long name…
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