The 5 best Ajax jerseys of all time

122 years of great talent. 122 years of trophies, successes and historic achievements. 122 years of unique jerseys, of iconic aesthetics that have shaped part of football design history. What has not been said about Ajax in its long history of triumphs and great champions? The appeal and tradition of the Dutch are unparalleled, and this is further enhanced by the jerseys they have worn throughout history. Not only the classic white uniform with the big red vertical band, introduced back in 1911 when the Lancers arrived in the Eredivisie and had to change their uniform (originally black and red) due to the presence of Sparta Rotterdam: the team from Amsterdam has worn all colours and patterns. With stripes, the three X's of the capital city, geometric or camouflage patterns, or the latest Bob Marley shirt, Ajax have given us some sensational gems in their history, which we have decided to sum up on the day of their 122nd anniversary.

Umbro - Home 1995/96

One of the most beautiful of the classic white uniforms with the big vertical red band is undoubtedly the one designed by Umbro back in 1995. Those were the days when Umbro dominated the scene on football pitches, the English brand had concentrated its templates on brick-style colour projections, with lots of grey, purple, brightly coloured sparks which in those years were the preferred aesthetic code. Umbro's uniforms, from Ajax's second to Gullit's Chelsea, were proposed with iconography that was on the one hand cubist and on the other futuristic, like those that appeared in television commercials in the mid-nineties. In that year, Umbro, like other teams, also decided to apply the tone-on-tone badge that blended into the vertical red band.

Umbro - Away 1989/90

The away shirt from the 1989/1990 season is typical of the 90s. It was not lucky in terms of trophies but is remembered because that season saw the exploits of the De Boer brothers and Dennis Bergkamp at the start of his career. The uniform follows the colours blue, white and red. The background is blue, cut by very thin white stripes before the interruption dictated by the geometric pattern that jags the front, back and sleeves of the jersey with red and white, occasionally leaving space for the blue background, which goes to compose the crazy fantasy of the jersey. The main sponsor is again TDK, in red on a white block background, almost clashing on this pattern proposed by Umbro.

Umbro - Away 1994/95 

The shirt with which the Ajax of the young Kluivert, Seedorf and Davids lifted their last Champions League is this pearl in midnight blue and burgundy, a fantastic mix that combines the colours with the predominant white on the collar and the predominant pattern on the front of the jersey. In the middle, of course, the renewed crest of the Lancers. A uniform that we dare not call legendary. This one was also designed by Umbro, who indissolubly linked their name to that of Ajax for eleven seasons.

adidas - Away 2004/05

We see the stripes again in the away kit for the 2004/2005 season. Van der Vaart and his teammates, dressed in adidas, sported this pale yellow uniform with three gold stripes when playing away from home. The inserts are black and the end result is a uniform in keeping with Ajax's away jersey tradition. Super.

adidas - Third kit 2021/22

 

It was December 2020 when jersey enthusiast Jack Henderson - who has access to exclusive catalogues - started showing the first possible mock-ups of the Ajax jersey dedicated to Bob Marley, following in the footsteps of the one already launched in 2019 by Irish team Bohemian F.C. (later forced to modify it due to copyright issues). Eight months later, adidas and the Lancers have officially launched the third shirt of the 2021-22 season and, as expected, the inspiration is the Jamaican singer. The tribute to a music icon doesn't stop at the colours but goes deep, all the way back to 1977, the year Bob Marley wrote, produced and recorded "Three Little Birds", the unofficial anthem of the Dutch club, which was also sung by Ky-Mani Marley, son of the great Bob. An already iconic shirt, one of the best-selling in 2021.