The best fan-designed jerseys

In past seasons, contests have literally exploded, allowing fans to unleash their creativity and design a jersey for their favourite team. It is a great excuse to create and strengthen the direct relationship between the team and the fans, who feel involved in the process of deciding what will be the face of the club for an entire season. It is a way that as mentioned also serves to unleash the creativity from below for fans can once get involved alongside the big brands, bringing a breath of fresh air to what can become standard templates over time. Initiatives that are always welcomed by fans who can then try their hand at something that, for obvious reasons, they are not always given the chance to do.

Last year, many teams opened up to this kind of possibility and in all parts of the world. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund did it, in Italy Fiorentina asked their fans to do the same, in Brazil Atletico Mineiro followed the same example and even in France, Red Star opted for a fan-designed jersey which is not bad at all. But over the years this initiative has also been taken up by other big clubs and brands who, in the spirit of putting the fan back at the centre of everything, have given the opportunity to see something new on the pitch. In light of last year's explosion of contests, we have decided to make a summary of the best ones, where in addition to the initiative promoted, the technical sponsor managed to reproduce a perfect jersey just as it was designed in graphics programmes such as photoshop or illustrator.

Red Star | Kappa

To best celebrate its 125th anniversary, Red Star decided that the fourth kit of the current season would be designed by one of the French club's many fans. A kit that debuted a few weeks ago and confirmed what a good choice it was to choose the kit proposed by Phil Delves. A simple striped jersey but where the Red Star colours are always present mixed with light blue and turquoise, making it even more eye-catching.

Atletico Mineiro | Le Coq Sportif

'Manto da Massa' is perhaps one of the best and most successful initiatives ever. In the last two editions, Atletico Mineiro together with Le Coq Sportif managed to create two unique jerseys that obviously went around the world. Unforgettable was the one two years ago when the jersey was cream-coloured with a globe that won over even the Brazilian team's rivals.

Brøndby | Hummel

From Brazil we go to Denmark because this time it is Brøndby that surprises everyone with a blue jersey with yellow inserts. A clear homage to the city as evidenced by the tone-on-tone graphics designed for this special edition that depict some of the most famous places and symbols of the western suburbs of the capital Copenhagen.

Manchester United | adidas

For Manchester a historic colour is definitely grey but rarely used. So Aniello Carotenuto, from Salerno with a great passion for the Red Devils in 2017 managed to win by proposing this colour scheme with a pixelated design that, however, made Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his teammates stand out so well on the pitch. A great initiative that adidas extended to all its top teams, but after 2017 it was never taken up again.

Milan | adidas

As with Manchester United, AC Milan, thanks to the Creator Studio platform of technical sponsor adidas Football, fans were given the opportunity to create a shirt proposal and then vote for the best ones. What won the fans over were the horizontal stripes on a black background jersey seen on the pitch in a Europa League match against Austria Vienna. A jersey forgotten as quickly as that Milan team that failed to impose itself, experiencing a less than felicitous economic situation.