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Northern Ireland's World Cup of Kits 2022 - Group I & J

By jcd

Through November and December 2022, to coincide with the FIFA World Cup, NIFG will be running polls to definitively select Northern Ireland’s greatest ever kits.

Starting with a daily group stage, the best kit from each group will proceed to the knock-out rounds, with the final two facing off and the ultimate winner to be crowned on the day of the World Cup Final.

Kits are being judged in their default format, with minor variations ignored. Voters can use whatever criteria they wish to identify their greatest - whether that is style, a favoured match, or a childhood memory.

[unless otherwise stated, stats are based on senior men’s matches and are based on “best guesses”*]

To vote, please visit and follow on Twitter. Group polls will be open for two days, with a new one unveiled every other day.

GROUP I

GROUP J

1964 Home

In the mid-1960s, the loose fitting “continental” shirts that became popular in the ‘50s were replaced by more tailored long-sleeve crew-necks. The IFA badge's position within a big white square was retained. It was in this shirt that George Best first really starred and Northern Ireland came within a whisker of qualifying for the 1966 World Cup. Again, in this era no away shirt was required by the senior team, but a white version was used by the youth team, notably in matches against Eire.

Bukta

(1964-1967)

Debut:

14-11-1964 vs Switzerland

L 3-4 (A)

(1966 World Cup Qualifier)

Pl: 16

W: 6

D: 3

L: 7

2015 Away

When Northern Ireland faced Scotland in Glasgow in 2015, both teams wore their new away shirts. Of course, this was a cynical marketing ploy, but there was a nice historical nod of Ireland in blue and Scotland in Rosebery colours of primrose and rose which would have been a common sight in the late 19th century. As templates go, the Northern Ireland shirt was unremarkable, but were the subtle two-tone blue halves also a nod to the halved jerseys reportedly worn in 1889?

Adidas

(2015)

Debut:

25-03-2015 vs Scotland

L 0-1 (A)

(International Friendly)

Pl: 3

W: 0

D: 2

L: 1

1954 Home

In the aftermath of Hungary tearing apart England in 1954 the British game sat up and took notice. Identifying what went wrong, they identified the kits and soon everyone was wearing loser fitting “continental” kits rather than the button-up rugby-style kits that had been popular up to that point. Northern Ireland, as the team was now officially known would have to wait until 1957 before they actually took these new kits to the continent!

Bukta

(1954-1957)

Debut:

02-10-1954 vs England

L 0-2 (H)

(British International Championship)

Pl: 12

W: 2

D: 5

L: 5

1990 Home

By the 1990s, football kits were regarded as fashion-wear as much as sports-wear. Combined with this was rave culture and we had the perfect excuse for Umbro to offer us this lime green-triangular delight! At the time it was widely distained, but nowadays retro-replicas are a common sight among the Windsor faithful. In terms of results, it witnessed a home draw with the Faroe Isles and an away draw with Germany!

Umbro

(1990-1992)

Debut:

12-09-1990 vs Yugoslavia

L 0-2 (A)

(Euro 1992 Qualifier)

Pl: 12

W: 3

D: 5

L: 4

2022 Home

The current home shirt. It is hard to know how history will treat it! It is a hodgepodge of nods to our recent history – the dark green of the 2014 kit; the quarters of the 1996 kit; the grandad collar of the 1990 kit. Much of the comment was however aimed at the away shirt launched at the same time. Advertised with white socks, it has however been worn with green in its early outings.

Adidas

(2022-date)

Debut:

24-09-2022 vs Kosovo

W 2-1 (H)

(2022/23 UEFA Nations League)

Pl: 2

W: 1

D: 0

L: 1

1983 Home

The second Adidas home kit is stuck in the middle of two World Cups, so in many ways, it may be overlooked. Of course that would be to ignore a win in West Germany in Euro 84 qualifying (the home win was in the Spain 82 kit), the final British Championship title and, of course, that successful Mexico 86 qualifying campaign. The kit worn through 1983 had a slightly different collar than later versions, having green trim added thereafter.

Adidas

(1983-1986)

Debut:

28-05-1983 vs England

D 0-0 (H)

(British International Championship)

Pl: 20

W: 9

D: 6

L: 5

2014 Home

When this kit was launched, Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland were at a low ebb. They’d just finished a disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign, finishing just a point ahead of Luxembourg. A dark green shade, only previously seen in the 2005 Anniversary kit, it got off to a slow start, suffering defeats in its first two outings in friendlies against Turkey and Uruguay, but nobody could have foreseen the turnaround in Euro 2016 qualifying. Two wins, including one in Greece when the shirt was paired with the slightly mis-matched away shorts, saw a perfect start to the campaign. Then it was replaced by a new kit, having been worn just four times.

Adidas

(2013-2014)

Debut:

15-11-2013 vs Turkey

L 0-1 (A)

(International Friendly)

Pl: 4

W: 2

D: 0

L: 2

2005 Anniversary

To some fan-fair, the IFA announced that they would be launching a special edition kit to celebrate their 125th birthday. There was speculation that it would be St Patrick’s blue, but instead it was a shade of dark green and a retro-style collar, neither of which reflected anything used on previous Ireland kits. The only authentic thing on the shirt was the badge, which closely reflected that worn by the team from the 1880s-1950s. The blue goalkeeper kit would have been more authentic. That the glamour friendly against Germany became a shambles as a weakened Northern Ireland team was overrun raised further questions. A good draw with Portugal later in the year was a bit more heartening.

Umbro

(2005)

Debut:

04-06-2005 vs Germany

L 1-4 (H)

(Irish FA 125th Anniversary Match)

Pl: 2

W: 0

D: 1

L: 1

Results:

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