Top 5 PUMA jerseys for the Italian national team

After the rumours of the last months, yesterday the Italian national team made official the partnership with adidas that will take the place of PUMA. The threes stripes will arrive on the Azzurri jersey only from January 2023, after the World Cup in Qatar in December, which may be the last appointment of the Italian national team sponsored by PUMA. Kits will be produced for each of the selections (men's, women's, youth, futsal, beach soccer and e-sports). This is the end of a story that has lasted almost 20 years made of emotions, great successes and also bitter disappointments, waiting to see how the play-offs will go that will determine the presence of the Azzurri at the next world competition where we could see a new shirt and the last of the PUMA era.

The partnership between PUMA and the Azzurri is not just any old partnership, it is the longest-lasting and most successful of the national team, which, wearing the jerseys of the brand founded by Rudolf Dassler, managed to win the fourth star in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and also the European Championship this summer, a success that had been missing since 1968 when Riva was on the field and the Azzurri were one of the strongest teams around. To celebrate this unforgettable history we decided to rewind the tape, going through the various stages of the relationship between PUMA and Italy, selecting what we think are the 5 best jerseys designed by the German brand for the national team.

World Cup 2006 

The first shirt could only be the 2006 one, which for obvious reasons will remain in history forever. An important jersey also because in that year the shield changed again, renewed in a squarer form, with white, red and green separated by blue inserts and the three stars that returned to be integrated in the coat of arms together with a new small FIGC logo positioned on the white. Initially, however, what was the third jersey designed by PUMA for the national team was not very well received, the problem for many fans were the shades of navy blue (a colour never seen before in the first jersey) on the sides of the chest that gave a "sweat stain" effect. But once seen in the field the shirt agreed with everyone, also accomplice of the incredible games of the Azzurri without a few difficulties managed to reach the long-awaited final in Berlin and win it later.

EURO 2020

From the 2006 World Cup we move on to another historic victory for the national team, which came last summer. The Azzurri together with PUMA reached and won the final in the first ever travelling European Championship, bringing the coveted trophy back home after the 1968 one. The shirt used this summer retained the Crafted by Culture design and returned to a blue that had been sidelined for years to make way for lighter shades. The pattern reinterprets classic Renaissance motifs in a modern geometric graphic incorporated into the blue of the jersey that celebrates the Italian influence on world culture and football itself. A balanced mix of past greatness (both cultural and sporting) and classic identity with a modern design that is also destined to remain in history.

The green jersey

One of the most contested shirts in history, the green one, is in the top 5. Presented on the eve of the matches against Greece and Liechtenstein, the great novelty that immediately caught the eye was obviously the choice of colours, the kit was not characterised by the classic blue colour but by a dark green, inspired by the Renaissance and by Italian artistic radiance. Starting from this concept, the kit wanted to be the base from which to start a new course for the national team, after the disappointment of not qualifying for Russia 2018. A symbolic renaissance, starting from the kits up to the players, first criticized and then hailed, a pearl designed by PUMA that will not be forgotten despite not having been worn in the World Cup or European Championships.

FIFA Confederations Cup 2009

The Confederations Cup shirt is a very special one, the only one so far for which PUMA has opted for a very light blue. The will of the German brand was to pay homage to the 1934, 1936 and 1938 formations when the Azzurri used to take the field with a very pale blue shirt. To accompany the unprecedented blue, PUMA chose to combine shorts and socks brown, another unusual colour and never used by the national team. A kit used for a short competition such as the Confederations Cup, perhaps passed in silence but enters by right in the best creation of PUMA for the national team.

FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 - GK Edition

Same year, same competition, another jersey that will be impossible to forget is the goalkeeper's jersey worn exclusively by Buffon. The goalkeeper's jersey took up the brown of the shorts of the movement players. Unfortunately, the Azzurri were not very lucky and in the group with Egypt, Brazil and the United States they collected only one victory, which was not enough to reach the stages of the tournament, which was won by the greenoro team in a strange and beautiful final with the USA.