Manchester United Home Shirts 101

Football (also known as soccer in some countries) is considered the most popular sport of the world. International football is governed by a body known as FIFA. It organizes several tournaments involving nations from across the globe. These tournaments are watched by thousands of fans in the stadiums and millions of fans around the world through television and the internet. Club football is also very popular especially in Europe. European clubs have a huge following in all the continents. Their matches are telecasted and watched in almost all the countries of the world. In some countries, football is considered more than just a sport; people play and follow it with great passion. One of the most popular football clubs of all times is Manchester United Football Club. It is an English club based in Old Trafford, Manchester. They represent the history, heritage and traditions of the club. Today Manchester United, like every other football club, has three kits: Home, Away and Third. In 1920 Manchester United home shirts had red and white stripes. A white shirt with a huge red “V” on the front was worn in the 1920s. 1928 was the year in which Manchester United shifted permanently to their famous colour of red shirt.

1940s saw white collars replacing the red ones on the Manchester United home shirts. In the mid 1950s, United start wearing V-necked shirts. The trend of white collars or a white V-neck on a red shirt remained till 1971-72 when they were replaced by big floppy collars. In 1972 the club badge appeared on the shirt for the first time. The kit manufacturer Admiral’s logo was printed for the first time in 1976-77. In 1982 the club sponsor Sharp’s logo appeared on the shirt for the first time. The kit manufacturer Adidas introduced their famous stripe on the shoulders; they were white in 1988-90 and black in 1990-92. Stiffer black collars were introduced by new manufacturer Umbro in 1993-94.

From the mid 90s to 2011-12, the kit manufacturer Nike made no changes in the shirt colours. Sponsors changed regularly and so did the logos on the Manchester United home shirts. White collars or round necks were used except in 1998-99 in which zip-up collars were used. In 2007-09, a white vertical line could be seen on the back on top and bottom whereas a black “V” appeared on the front in 2009-10. In 2012-13, Manchester United wore a red shirt with gingham-inspired check design and a black V-neck. It wasn’t much liked by the fans so now in 2013/14 we will see the return of a single shade red shirt with a black collar. It has 3 buttons on front and 11 on the back. Manchester United’s away shirts have been white traditionally. They used to wear white in away fixtures till 1990 when they switched to different shades of blue for away. In 1995-96 they switched to grey. In the interval 1997-2010, they regularly changed their away kits. In this period they used white, blue or black as the away shirt colour.

For the 2011/12 season, they wore away shirts with black and blue hoops. They wore traditional white with a Henley Crew colour with red detail. They are going to wear round-necked black check shirts for the upcoming season. The third kit remained blue till 1990 and then the kit manufacturers experimented a lot with it. The third kit is normally worn in cup finals or exhibition matches. Nowadays the club earns a lot of revenue by the sales of the club shirts. Official Manchester United home shirts (in Danish Manchester United hjemmebanetrøjer Fodboldonline) can be bought from their online store or from the kit manufacturer Nike’s outlets. They are expensive so replicas are also sold in a number of countries. Fans can buy shirts of any of their favourite football stars. Customized shirts with your name and number can also be purchased from the market.