Italian football is intrinsically linked to colour.
If I was to ask you to think of a team that plays in purple, there’s only one team that comes to mind, right? What about red and black stripes, or blue and black stripes? You’ll no doubt be thinking of a certain derby.
Though many of these connections were first embedded into our brains during the 90s, there are as many of these wonderful combos today as there were during the golden era of Serie A.
One of the best modern examples of the Italian aesthetic comes from a team outside the top division: Venezia FC. The team have been teasing us in recent years with designs that subtly utilise their striking orange, green and black club colours. In 2019 things went up a gear with a pair of lovely kits that featured vertical stripes, and now in 2020 we’ve reached the pinnacle.
Venezia through the years 🟠⚫️🟢 pic.twitter.com/6yRBWFdpX6
— Football Shirt Collective (@thefootballsc) December 1, 2021
On both the home and away shirt, the aforementioned colours can be seen in full force as bands of colour horizontally across the shirt. For me personally, this is a step above last year, and I’d go as far as to say this particular sort of design (horizontal bands of colour) is my favourite type of shirt pattern.
The away is especially beautiful, with a contrast black collar in a year which has seen Nike ‘open the playbook’ somewhat, giving teams more freedom to opt for a collar. As with other recent shirts, the club’s name is presented in a stylised typeface in place of a sponsor, and the placement of the ‘sponsor’ couldn’t be any better as it sits perfectly within a black band.
Is there a better home and away combo this season? ⚫🟢🟠 pic.twitter.com/sswtDI5YUq
— Football Shirt Collective (@thefootballsc) September 14, 2020
I want to finish by waxing lyrical about the colours once again though. Orange, black and green simply isn’t a colourway we see often in sports, let alone football, but Venezia are the beneficiaries of this rare combination. By grounding the potentially overwhelming tandem of orange and green with both black and white also, the shirts retain a sense of class.
Were this shirt just orange and green, we’d be in danger of entering ‘crazy third kit’ territory, but with the balance of the monochrome features we’re presented with something altogether more refined.
If I had to sum up this shirt, I’d say this was a design which makes superb use of one of the best colour schemes I’ve ever seen in football.
.@VeneziaFC_EN drop their first shirt of 2021/22 today 🟠⚫️🟢
— Football Shirt Collective (@thefootballsc) July 29, 2021
Reply with pictures of your Venezia shirts👇 pic.twitter.com/633yAylB9G
Even if I were exaggerating, this is undoubtedly one of the best designs of 2020.
What makes a football shirt good? It’s a purely subjective question, right?
Whilst there are indeed a lot of subjective elements when it comes to shirts, there are still factors to consider. Sometimes, a design is notable for its unique aesthetic. The colourway, pattern or construction may have gone where no shirt dared to go before it, or it might simply be a particularly good utilisation of a classic approach. Other times, a legendary player elevates a design to immortality, even if the design in question would’ve been hard to pick out of a crowd before.
Our series FSC Approved will be a lovingly curated list of shirts that deserve to be in the conversation as good, possibly even great football shirts, no matter who you support or what your taste in shirts is. Old classics, new contenders, if it’s FSC Approved it’s as close to a certified banger as you can get.
Venezia have a place in our Modern Classics collection. See who else joins them, and pick-up your own here.
