My First Football Shirt: Andy Xztals

We caught up with designer Andy from Xztal's to talk about buying the 2002 Manchester United shirt and Paul Scholes giving him goosebumps.

What was your first football shirt?

📆 August 16, 2003

18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo subs on to make his Manchester United debut in front of Old Trafford. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/x15ShBFXEB

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 16, 2020

The first kits that I can properly remember were both around the 2002/2003 season. With me being a Manchester United fan I was naturally bought their shirt and my earliest memory is having the 2002/03 home shirt with the Vodafone sponsor on, which to this day I still think is one of the nicest sponsorships I've seen on a kit. Around a similar time I remember wearing my Dads reversible England kit which featured both the home and away shirt in one. Looking back it's a bit of a gimmick but it isn't something I would object to bringing back.

 

What is your favourite football shirt?

I have a variety of different shirts that i love for different reasons. My favourite in terms of design is the 1990 Germany shirt. I think many people would agree that the shirt is amazing.  There is just something about it that everybody seems to love.

ON THIS DAY in 1990, #GER beat #ARG 1-0 to win the #WorldCup for the third time! Number 4 awaits... pic.twitter.com/AVowMoMeJZ

— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) July 8, 2014

But a football shirt that means a lot to me is the Manchester United 2007-2009 kit. The memories I have of that kit will stay with me forever and the shirt itself was so simple, clean and looked good in both short and long sleeve. 

What is your favourite goal?

😱 Zinédine Zidane's spectacular volley in the 2002 final! 🚀🎯

The first time he lifted the #UCL 🏆... https://t.co/MMuICEBvP7 pic.twitter.com/MQGarfsUuh

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) July 9, 2019

The first being Zidane's volley in the Champions League final where he rifled it into the top of the net. The second is Paul Scholes' volley against Barcelona in the semi final of the Champions League.  It still gives me goosebumps watching the goal back. Finally, again, Manchester United and this time Ronaldo with a couple of goals. The first being his ridiculous long range effort against Porto in the Champions League and his second being his free kick he scored against Portsmouth where it couldn't have been any more perfect if he tried it.