Iconic Brands

Vintage Football Shirts: Sponsors from the 80s and 90s

Soccer jerseys haven't always had sponsors, especially in Italy. This was a practice banned by the FIGC, and most of the revenue in Italian soccer came from victories in various competitions or from the Totocalcio (Football Pools). It was precisely with the liberalization of sponsorships that jerseys began to acquire sophisticated patterns and textures, so much so that they became collectible memorabilia and vintage soccer jerseys. In Italy, one of the first clubs to bring back a sponsor was Lanerossi Vicenza, although we remember a 1944 Torino team sporting the words "Torino Fiat" on their jerseys. In Europe, however, the first to have a commercial sponsor was a German league team, Braunschweig, with a 100,000-mark contract with the well-known liqueur company Jagermeister. Shortly before the liberalization of sponsorships, we find an attempt at sponsorship on Udinese's retro football shirts, in the 1979/1980 season. The then club president, Teofilo Sanson, thought it a good idea to add the logo of his eponymous ice cream factory to the shorts since the regulations only concerned shirts, but it was short-lived as the FIGC had it removed after only 3 matchdays.

Historic Football Shirts from the 80s and 90s

Sponsorship was finally liberalized with the 1981-1982 football season, with more than 28 Serie A and B teams taking to the field with a sponsor on their kits. In reality, sponsorships began to be introduced much later in Italy than in the rest of Europe. That season, one of the historic football shirts that wasn't particularly well-received by the fans was Fiorentina's. Fiorentina signed a contract with JD Farrow's, a now-defunct sportswear brand, which became both the team's sponsor and technical supplier. The shirt was the classic purple with red details, with the technical/commercial sponsor under the collar, and immediately after, the revamped club crest, a redesign commissioned by the new Pontello owners, the "halberd lily," which occupied most of the chest. With the liberalization of sponsorships, the kits increasingly followed fashion trends without sacrificing the quality of the materials. The '90s arrived, and patterns and textures became eccentric. We recall one of the historic Juventus jerseys from the '90s, in blue with gold stars on the shoulders, designed by Kappa, with which they won the Champions League in the 1995/1996 season. In Europe, however, among the longest-running sponsorships, from a commercial standpoint, is the West Ham and Dr. Martens partnership, a true gem among vintage football jerseys. Well, all you have to do is browse the collection and find all the rare vintage football jerseys with sponsors 80/90, Ennerre, Admiral, Kelme, Fila, Diadora, Nike, and Adidas.

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