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1 Portsmouth Away, 1984
Alan Ball was manager, Portsmouth made the Second Division play-offs and casual hooligans ran rampant up and down the land. You can also see the floppy highlighted wedge-cut and snug fitting Lois jumbo cords which would have been paired with this peach of a shirt.
2 Crystal Palace Away 1989
As worn by Ian Wright and Mark Bright, the classic sash design was actually introduced by Palace in 1976/77 and was an instant hit with fans as they saw their team dubbed the Team of the Eighties. Never happened. And Palace wore this during a 9-0 defeat at Liverpool.
3 Croatia 1996
A lot of folk were blown away during Euro 96 when Croatia trotted out wearing this chess board monstrosity. Unique, yes, but does it have any place on a field of play? Mind you. Suker and Prosinecki could have worn chain-mail and still performed well.
4 Russia 1990
Brilliant design which looks as though the shirt has been washed in too hot water, rinsed out and left on the line to dry. Grand to see those majestic CCCP letters across the chest. You still see this shirt on building labourers in north London.
5 England Home 1982
What a shirt. Classic England effort as worn by Mick Mills, Trevor Brooking, Glenn Hoddle and . . . yes, Kevin Keegan. When he missed that header and England blew out of the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain. Two 0-0 draws after winning all of our qualifiers.
6 France 1978
Lovely Adidas shirt with contrasting red-white-and-blue sleeve stripes. Didier Six and Platini pulled this little number on to take their European Championship winning team to the World Cup Argentina in 1986. They lost to Germany in the semis.
7 Holland 1988
We’ve been a bit cheeky here: the shirt worn by Gullit, Van Basten, Muhren et al as the qualified for Euro 88 was a nice solid, orange affair. In the actual Championships, which they won, they changed to a more patterned shirt, like this one. Which isn't as good, but is memorable.
8 Jamaica 2000
You remember the Reggae Boyz at France during the 1998 World Cup? Frank Sinclair and Robbie Earle? No? To be fair, they lost to Croatia and Argentina before squeaking a win against Japan. But the shirts we remember.
9 Argentina 1990
As worn by Maradona, Caniggia, Burruchaga, Balbo, Ruggeri . . . a great side. They made it to World Cup Final in 1990 but lost to Germany. Four years later Maradona was out of the World Cup on drugs charges and it was all over.
10 Cameroon 1990
How old was Roger Milla at the World Cup in Italy in 1990? Some say 37, others 42. We don’t know. We do know that we loved the Africans reaching the quarter-finals before an extra-time Gary Lineker penalty for England spoiled the party.
11 West Ham 1992 Away
Only worn for one season by the Hammers, but what a bloody season. With Frank McAvennie, Martin Allen and Alvin Martin, West Ham had a mare: they were relegated and so missed being part of the first ever Premier League the following season.
12 Arsenal 1984 Home
What a superb, classic design. Charlie Nicolas, Kenny Sansom and Graham Rix, under Don Howe, ended up 7th in the First Division. George Graham took over the following season, and two years ater Arsenal were champions.
13 Man City Away 1988
We’ve put this in because we can’t really remember seeing Man City ever wearing it. They finished the 1988-89 season in second in the old Second Division, going up with Chelsea and Palace. Where is Howard Wilkinson nowadays?
14 Man Utd 1985
A hugely popular Man Utd top, worn for their FA Cup Final victory over Everton, infamous for the sending off of Kevin Moran – the first man to get a red card in the final. Norman Whiteside scored the winner in extra-time for a United side that was made up (for the first time) entirely of internationals.
15 Palermo 1996
Good old Palermo. Known as the rosanero (the pink and blacks) the club stand apart from, well, every other club on earth in terms of chutzpah. And they have been wearing pink since 1907, so are no Johnny-come-lately metrosexual poseurs.
16 Sampdoria 1990
It’s the stripes across the chest that do it. They are nicknamed the Blucerchiati – the blue-ringed. And do you know how this came to be? Do you? Here’s how: in the 1890s two Genoa clubs, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria merged, and combined not just names, but team colours too.
17 AC Milan 1989
Classic shirt worn by the legendary squad which included Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard and Ancelotti. They won the European Cup two years in a row with a squad which was built with Silvio Berlusconi’s wonga.
18 Coventry 1981
The worst designed shirt ever, with a pitiable history behind it too. To try to get around the ban on branded shirts being worn on TV in the early days of sponsorship, Jimmy Hill tried (unsuccessfully) to get the club’s name changed to Coventry Talbot, then he came up with this huge T logo shirt. Which was banned on TV too.
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