This is a Top End Kits Top 50. Continuing from where we left off in part 1, counting down and ranking Retro Club Kits. Featuring our favourite club shirts from football history. This time, we’re keeping it strictly to club kits, with anything from before 2020 considered for the list. The ranking is based on personal preference, taking into account design, nostalgia, history and the memories attached to each shirt. From iconic European giants to lesser-known favourites.
PART 2 OF 5
#39 — Toronto FC 2014/15 Away
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Jermain Defoe at BMO Field, March 2014.
Back in 2014, Toronto FC made some of the biggest moves in the club’s short history. Michael Bradley swapped AS Roma for MLS, while Jermain Defoe surprisingly left Spurs for Canada. Brazilian attacker Gilberto was signed from Internacional, while Dwayne De Rosario returned to Toronto and Steven Caldwell continued with the club. Scouser Bradley Orr also arrived on loan. A total of 12 new first-team players arrived that season, with a brand-new away kit to complete the facelift.
The official colour used was Onyx, paired with metallic silver accents. Red stripes on the shoulders, down the sides of the shorts and a red gradient on the Onyx socks brought the whole look together. The front of the shirt featured nine pinstripe columns made up of subtle maple leaves, adding a distinctly Canadian identity without making the jersey feel overdone.
It was a bold kit for a bold time at TFC. The 2014 season was supposed to mark the beginning of a new era for the club, and this shirt became one of the visual symbols of that transformation.
I’ve always loved the combination of the dark Onyx base, Canadian details and flashes of red. It’s certainly a less obvious choice than some of the kits that will appear later in this list, but that’s exactly why it earns a surprise spot in the Top 50.
TEK Ranking: #39
#38 — Celtic 2006/07 Away
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Shunsuke Nakamura of Celtic during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Benfica and Celtic at the Estadio da Luz on November 1, 2006 in Lisbon, Portugal.
This is one of those Celtic away kits that breaks away from the club’s traditional look. The black and green vertical stripes give it a really distinctive appearance. The black polo collar adds some class and Carling sponsorship finishes it off perfectly.
It has that classic mid-2000s football look, but the colour combination makes it stand out from so many other kits from the era. It was also worn during a successful Celtic season, when they won the Scottish league and League Cup double.
Some football kits instantly make you think of a specific player, and with this one it’s Japanese attacking midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura. I think that may have something to do with the Champions League freekick goal, at Old Trafford.
It was difficult to choose a Celtic top, they’ve had so many classics over the years but this one is unique and really stands out.
TEK Ranking: #38
#37 — Fulham 2001/02 Home
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Louis Saha of Fulham celebrates scoring by giving the finger, in the FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Fulham and Newcastle United at Craven Cottage, London. November 17 2001.
For the most part, Fulham shirts are generally pretty unremarkable. But when I think Fulham kits, the 2001/02 home shirt is always the first one that comes to mind. It was worn in their first ever season in the Premier League. Young striker Louis Saha and fellow Frenchman Steed Malbranque produced a lot of the magic for the Cottagers.
We love a good collar on a kit, don’t we? We also love when the style and colour of the sponsor accentuates the rest of the kit. It may come as a surprise, but Fulham only had Pizza Hut on their kit for the one season, in memory it seemed to be longer. The red and black of the sponsor goes perfectly with the black and red detailing of the Fulham home kit.
For me, the combination of the clean design, classic sponsor and the era of the Premier League it represents, makes this a very easy addition to the list.
TEK Ranking: #37
#36 — Rangers 1997/99 Home
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Gazza in action for Rangers in Europe, against IFK Göteborg, at the Gamla Ullevi stadium in Sweden. August 13th 1997.
Just like in real life, you don’t often hear something about Celtic, without Rangers being mentioned shortly after, and vice versa.
It was very challenging choosing a Rangers top. The three adidas home kits that predated this one, were all highly taken into consideration. The Rangers 1997/99 home kit is a brilliant example of Nike’s late-90s football shirt design, they didn’t make many bad ones back then.
The classic royal blue is joined by the white polo collar. Red piping with a darker-blue chest detailing elevate the look. And then the shield around the crest and a great beer sponsor really cements this one as an all-time classic.
And just like the Celtic kit above, this kit also has a strong connection to one of the most memorable periods in Rangers history. The shirt was worn during the 1998/99 season, when Rangers won the domestic treble under Dick Advocaat, becoming league champions for the 10th time in eleven years, with Celtic having broken their winning streak the season before.
In a time when the Old Firm was still attractive to world class players, this kit was worn by Brian Laudrup, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Paul Gascoigne, Gennaro Gattuso and Ally McCoist. For me, it’s a fantastic retro Rangers shirt, tickling all boxes that makes an easy addition to the Top 50.
TEK Ranking: #36
#35 — Lazio 2014/15 Fourth
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Miroslav Klose of SS Lazio celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the Serie A match between Lazio and Empoli at Stadio Olimpico on April 12, 2015 in Rome, Italy.
I am usually not a fan of the kits Macron puts out, but credit where credit's due on the Lazio 2014/15 fourth kit. It was created to celebrate the club’s 115th anniversary, it was a modern take on Lazio’s famous “Maglia Bandiera”, the iconic eagle design from the kit of the 1980s. The shirt features the large stylized eagle across the front, with the white and sky-blue colours giving it a really distinctive look.
I love the fact that Lazio brought back such a recognizable piece of their history and gave it a modern twist. Fairly successful season for Lazio that year, they earned a 3rd place finish in the Serie A that season, with German striker Miroslav Klose leading the attack.
TEK Ranking: #35
#34 — Coventry City 1978/81 Away
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Welsh midfielder Terry Yorath, who passed earlier this year, wearing Coventry City's infamous chocolate brown Admiral away kit.
One of the boldest and most unconventional kits ever worn by an English club. This infamous kit gained widespread notoriety and definitely splits opinions. Worn in the late 70s and early 80s, it has frequently been voted among the worst football kits of all time.
The Admiral away shirt features an unmistakable chocolate-brown base, with the classic Admiral detailing running across the shoulders and sleeves, finished off with the Talbot sponsor.
Brown is hardly a traditional football colour, which is exactly what makes this shirt so memorable. The hate that it has received over the years, is also what has helped turn it into a cult classic. It might not be a conventional choice for a list of the greatest retro kits, but that is part of its appeal.
Distinctive, unmistakably 1970s and impossible to confuse with anything else, this is a kit that has aged into something far more interesting than simply being “ugly.” I for one am an advocate for more brown kits in the beautiful game.
TEK Ranking: #34
#33 — PSG 2006/07 Away
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Portuguese football legend Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes, widely known as Pauleta, star striker for PSG, wearing the iconic brown 2006/07 away kit.
Long before Paris Saint-Germain became synonymous with fashion collaborations and luxury streetwear, the club produced one of the most unconventional football shirts of the 2000s.
It’s not quite ‘Coventry City brown’, but Nike did use a rich chocolate-brown base with gold detailing. The shirt features a subtle monogram-style pattern incorporating Parisian symbols, including the Eiffel Tower, PSG lettering and fleur-de-lis. Whether it was intentional or not, the kit has earned the nickname of the ‘Louis Vuitton’ kit, as it bears a certain resemblance to the French luxury brand’s signature style.
The combination of brown and gold gives it an almost luxury-fashion feel, which is fitting for a club whose identity has increasingly crossed over into the worlds of fashion and culture. It was worn by the likes of Pauleta, Jérôme Rothen and Mario Yepes, giving the shirt an impressive collection of names to go with its unique design.
Nearly two decades later, it’s still a highly coveted piece of football memorabilia and has developed a cult status among both football shirt collectors and fashion enthusiasts. A genuinely unconventional football shirt that somehow looks better with age.
The way this kit stood apart from traditional football shirt design, combined with the cultural significance it has gained over the years, means there’s no way it could be left off the list.
TEK Ranking: #33
32 — Liverpool 1996/97 Away
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Steve McManaman in Liverpool's away kit, Villa Park 1997.
The 1996/97 Liverpool away shirt is certainly one of a kind. Ask anyone who watched 90s football about a ‘cream kit’, and they’ll tell you Liverpool.
Heavily associated with the ‘Spice Boys’ era at LFC, a nickname given to a Liverpool squad that was talented and entertaining, but also perceived as under-achieving and high-profile. The nickname was popularised by the British press and became synonymous with this particular period of Liverpool’s history.
Reebok took a chance on this one, especially after the cream Armani suit embarrassment a couple of years earlier at Wembley. But they’ll tell you this kit isn’t cream. The official colour given to this iconic change strip is ‘ecru’, which comes from the French term écru, meaning ‘raw’ or ‘unbleached’, and was traditionally used to describe the natural colour of raw woven linen or silk.
On top of the ecru base is a shadow-like repeating pattern of the iconic Liverbird crest across the entire body. Barely visible from a distance, it appeared glossy when the light caught it right, in true 90s style. It features a thick, ribbed cross-detail crew neck collar and matching sleeve cuffs, accented with bold red and dark horizontal stripes. The iconic Liverpool crest is housed inside a striking red oval shield on the left chest, paired with an embroidered Reebok logo on the right. The legendary Carlsberg logo is stamped across the centre in raised black lettering.
This kit is a glorious reminder of just how massive 90s shirts were. The short sleeves routinely swallowed the players’ elbows in pure, baggy perfection.
Like many great kits, it was worn for just one season, adding to the allure. Worn by Anfield stars of the time like Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp, Patrik Berger, Stan Collymore, Rob Jones and a young Jamie Carragher.
There’s two memorable incidents that involved this kit.
The first saw Robbie Fowler receive a UEFA Fair Play commendation. At Highbury in 1997, Fowler hurdled over the onrushing David Seaman and went down in the box despite there being no contact. Referee Gerald Ashby didn’t hesitate to point to the spot. Fowler got to his feet, waving his arms in protest alongside the Arsenal players and insisting that the referee not give it. The referee stood by his decision, and Fowler stepped up to take the penalty. His tame effort was saved by Seaman, but Jason McAteer crashed in the rebound and Liverpool won 2-1. Fowler was later recognised by UEFA for his honesty.
The second incident also involves Fowler, and it might be the best goal you’ve never seen. Fowler scored a stunning solo goal for Liverpool against SK Brann in Norway during the first leg of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final. He brilliantly lifted the ball over a defender, ran around the other side and finished on the volley. Seriously, look it up if you’ve never seen it.
A perfect example of the 1990s Reebok era — simple, distinctive, loaded with nostalgia and memorable incidents. To be honest, this kit could have ranked higher in my books, but there’s so many great ones still to come.
TEK Ranking: #32
#31 — Parma 1999/00 Home
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9 Jan 2000: Hernan Crespo of Parma takes the ball past Montero of Juventus during the Serie A match between Parma v Juventus at the Ennio Tardini Stadium, Parma.
Parma’s signature yellow and blue is one of football’s most distinctive colourways, and their 1999/00 home kit stands out as a peak execution. Safe to say, this will be the only kit in the Top 50 produced by Champion.
The design pairs striking yellow and blue horizontal stripes, with a light blue-to-white gradient separating them. Yellow sleeves feature navy trim, with the Champion logo running along the sleeves, while a deep navy polo collar completes the look.
The star power behind the kit takes it to another level. Alberto Malesani’s side featured an elite roster boasting Hernán Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Dino Baggio, Juan Sebastián Verón and a certain Gigi Buffon between the sticks. Together, they secured a fifth-place Serie A finish, won the Supercoppa Italiana and continued Parma’s presence on the European stage.
This jersey captures the tail end of Parma’s remarkable golden era — vibrant design, a classic sponsor and a dressing room stacked with legends. It remains a primary reason why turn-of-the-century Italian kits are so heavily coveted by modern shirt collectors.
Visually iconic and tied to an unforgettable generation of players, this kit represents Parma at one of the most memorable points in their history and is well worthy of its spot in our Top 50.
TEK Ranking: #31
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