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Keep it Simple, FIFA


raysox

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So I was watching 2014 World Cup highlights with my roommate this weekend. One thing I noticed was how FIFA's light/dark rule took some classic match ups away from us fans. If you aren't familiar, each team must have a uniform classified by light, and dark, and no light/light, or dark/dark match ups could happen. For example, Colombia had a "light" yellow kit, and a "dark" navy one.



The biggest issue I had was Spain vs the Netherlands. Spain had a red and white kit, and the Netherlands had an orange and navy one. Red/navy, and orange/white wouldn't clash, yet they did under the FIFA rules. These rules lead to companies making monochrome looks, like Germany's white shorts when they classically wear black.


So my friend Gus and I worked this out. Here is my FIFA Clash Kit Color Wheel. Basically, you wear your primary kit, UNLESS the following.



The two jersey colors touch, whether it is left/right/up/down or diagonal. No two teams can wear colors on the same ring, unless it's the middle ring with primary/secondary colors. Lastly, for teams with stripes, both colors would have to check out.


Believe me, the system is far from perfect, but I just needed to get the idea into a visual.


ColorWheel.png


So that wheel lead me to think about classic looks. I was looking up old World Cup kits and was like "man, forget all these gradients and stripes, that's a really good look" over and over again. Clearly, kit manufacturers are gonna have their own thing like Adidas stripes and stuff, but I mean, it'd be great if there was a locked in traditional scheme all the classic teams were locked in to. No mixing, but a look that each team would wear 8/10 games. So here's 18 concepts I did in 2 hours and here they are!



SimpleFIFA2.png



SimpleFIFA.png



SimpleFIFA3.png



SimpleFIFA4.png



SimpleFIFA5.png



SimpleFIFA6.png


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One thing I wish England did more was rock light blue shorts like they did in 1986 in the Maradona game, but turns out they pretty much only wore that once.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/international/england/england-1872-1939.html

Looking at all of those, navy shorts would probably be the best option.

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The "light and dark rule" did not cause the monochrome jersey looks. It had to do with a lot of federations fear of Brazilian heat. Therefore teams with interrupted looks (Germany, Argentina, England, Colombia) used white shorts and socks to instead their classic looks.

Anyway, amongst you concepts:

Belgium- Needs Red Socks

Mexico- Perfect

Colombia- I prefer a return to 70's - 80's era orange

Spain- Royal Blue Shorts, Navy or Red Socks

Argentina- I prefer Black Socks, however at the very least incorporate the "stripes within the stripes" like 1978 for the shorts

Germany- Fine

Brazil- No to the Blue Names & Numbers

USA- Plain Navy Shorts and Socks

Netherlands- Orange Socks

England- Navy Collar, Cuffs, and Shorts

France- Lighter Shades of Blue and Red

Portugal- Just Beautiful!

Italy- Fine

Switzerland- Fine

Uruguay- Fine, although their classic look gets less charming the more I see it.

Chile- Fine

Ghana- Fine

Cote D'Ivoire- I think they can pull off an Orange/White/Green Tricolor

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I saw these last night when you tweeted them out and really liked the simplicity of each of these. I like that you kept the like brands on the same template, but each uniform looks different from the others in its group. There isn't a set I don't like in here, honestly.

A few thoughts:

- USA - The legibility of the numbers is iffy, but I love the Waldo jerseys. The stripe on the shorts could probably go away, but I'm assuming that's part of the Nike Template.

- France's set seems a little dark, but I absolutely love the simplicity. It's a gorgeous set, and while I think it could use red somewhere in the jersey or shorts, I think it looks fantastic as is.

- In the Cote D'Ivoire set, I'm curious how green shorts would look. It's such a unique color combination (especially with that shade of green), I think it'd be nice to really feature it.

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Thanks guys, I'm glad it's clear that this is just a theory instead of actual concepts.

I actually prefer the darker blue on Spain and France, is that an unpopular opinion? Also I'd love to see green shorts for Ivory Coast. They've seem to only wear orange in the world cups they've made. Also Belgium's kits are throwbacks to 1930 with red/black/black

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The one colour kit rule was actually to enhance the viewing in HD. I don't really get the logic behind that, but that is the reason they gave.

It's funny you say that, because I heard (on here probably) that it was for black and white tv's.

Here is what Historical Kits.uk said

"FIFA amended Rule 2 Section 35 of the competition regulations to state, "Each team shall inform FIFA of two different and contrasting colours. One predominantly dark and one predominantly light for its official and reserve kit." Although this rule does not require teams to wear single colour kits, several manufacturers interpreted it in this way."

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The "light and dark rule" did not cause the monochrome jersey looks. It had to do with a lot of federations fear of Brazilian heat. Therefore teams with interrupted looks (Germany, Argentina, England, Colombia) used white shorts and socks to instead their classic looks.

Anyway, amongst you concepts:

Belgium- Needs Red Socks

Mexico- Perfect

Colombia- I prefer a return to 70's - 80's era orange

Spain- Royal Blue Shorts, Navy or Red Socks

Argentina- I prefer Black Socks, however at the very least incorporate the "stripes within the stripes" like 1978 for the shorts

Germany- Fine

Brazil- No to the Blue Names & Numbers

USA- Plain Navy Shorts and Socks

Netherlands- Orange Socks

England- Navy Collar, Cuffs, and Shorts

France- Lighter Shades of Blue and Red

Portugal- Just Beautiful!

Italy- Fine

Switzerland- Fine

Uruguay- Fine, although their classic look gets less charming the more I see it.

Chile- Fine

Ghana- Fine

Cote D'Ivoire- I think they can pull off an Orange/White/Green Tricolor

Spain: BLACK socks. Unique and classic feel.

Your queen is just a pawn with some fancy moves.

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As a side note I want to mention that until the late 90s monochrome looks were literally not existent in national team soccer. There were few exceptions for some matchups, but every national team had at least a different colour home shorts as a first choice for their home kit. That's why the development to monochrome looks is so drastic.

Just look at the World Cups before 2002 or 1998. No team I can think of wore one colour only as a regular home kit.

I'm a simple person, I have a pixelated David Beckham as profile photo since 2010.

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As a side note I want to mention that until the late 90s monochrome looks were literally not existent in national team soccer. There were few exceptions for some matchups, but every national team had at least a different colour home shorts as a first choice for their home kit. That's why the development to monochrome looks is so drastic.

Just look at the World Cups before 2002 or 1998. No team I can think of wore one colour only as a regular home kit.

Belgium did.

Your queen is just a pawn with some fancy moves.

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