The Best Ever Venezia Shirts
Here's a question for the next pub quiz. Which club has Football Shirt Collective sold more shirts for than any other? Not Manchester United. Not Arsenal. It's Venezia, a club that spent most of those years in Serie B.
We've sold 1,155 Venezia shirts to fans in 38 countries, more than double our Manchester United total. Hardly any of them went to Venezia supporters. Only seven shirts went to Italy. People bought them for the same reason we stocked them: orange, black and green, the club's name across the chest instead of a sponsor, and some of the best shirt design of the last decade.
"Give a lot of credit to the colors, which have deep meaning and impact the eye psychologically. I don't believe I've seen another team with arancioneroverdi as their colourway. It's a story inside a story inside a maze." - Diego Moscosoni, Fly Nowhere
For this one we went back to the people who made it happen. We interviewed Ted Philipakos, a former Venezia FC chief executive, and Diego Moscosoni of Fly Nowhere, the creative agency behind the club's shirt launches. We also lean on our own Phil Delves, who has written about Venezia shirts more than anyone else on this site, and isn't sorry about it.
What you need to know about the best Venezia shirts
- Venezia is our best-selling team ever: 1,155 shirts, ahead of Manchester United (552) and Arsenal (459).
- The 2019/20 Nike home is our single best seller, with 858 sold.
- Our Venezia shirts went to 38 countries, but only seven went to Italy.
- Every Venezia shirt we've sold went out with no name on the back. People bought them for the colours.
- Every shirt we sold was brand new, official club stock. See the Venezia collection.
The Best Ever Venezia Shirts, Ranked
1998/99 Home - Recoba's Season
Before the colours went viral, Venezia had their own golden moment. Promoted back to Serie A, they were in trouble halfway through the season. Then Álvaro Recoba arrived on loan from Inter in January 1999. His goals, and his left foot, kept Venezia up. Shirts from that season are hard to find now, and a Recoba version is right at the top of our wishlist.
1999/00 Away (Kronos) - The Last Serie A Shirt for Years
Recoba went back to Inter, and Venezia went back down at the end of the season. They bounced back once, but after 2002 it would be nineteen years before Serie A football returned to the lagoon. Kronos made the kit, and it's the only vintage Venezia shirt we've ever sold. Vintage Venezia is genuinely rare, so if you've got one in a drawer, we'd love to hear from you.
2019/20 Home (Nike) - Where It Started
This is the shirt that started our love affair with Venezia, and it's our best-selling shirt for any team. We've sold 858, including 604 of the sponsor-free version. Phil Delves saw where things were heading:
"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." - Phil Delves, Football Shirt Collective
It's a black shirt with thin orange and green stripes and a simple crew neck. Phil called this the warm-up. Most of the 858 people who bought one would say it's a fine shirt in its own right.
2019/20 Away (Nike) - The White One
The away from the same season, in the same arancioneroverde colours. We've sold 57, most of them sponsor-free. It has one of the best small details in modern shirts, on the back of the neck:
"Don't miss a lovely 'VFC' patch at the top of the back of the shirts either. The interlocking letters deserve nothing less than a chef's kiss." - Phil Delves
2020/21 Home (Nike) - The Bands
For 2020/21 the stripes turned into thick horizontal bands of orange, black and green, with the club's name across the front instead of a sponsor. It's the shirt that made the rest of the football world notice. Phil couldn't think of another team that had anything like it:
"I can't think of another professional team with Gli Arancioneroverdi's (The Orange-Black-Greens) combination, and it's not only a rare one but a beautiful one too." - Phil Delves
There's a reason for the colours, too. Diego Moscosoni told us it goes back to two clubs becoming one:
"The story of Mestre — the mainland section, and a former rival, the orange team — forming a unione with the lagoon section — the original green and black team — was a genius move." - Diego Moscosoni, Fly Nowhere
We've sold 93. That season ended with Venezia beating Cittadella in the Serie B play-off final and going up to Serie A for the first time since 2002.
2020/21 Away (Nike) - Nothing Should Be Template
If we had to pick one, it might be this. White, with the colour bands across the chest and a black collar. Phil made it FSC Approved:
"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." - Phil Delves
The launch was something new too. Fly Nowhere ran it, from the photoshoot in Venice to the release, and Ted Philipakos told us why it looked so different from everything else that summer:
"Well, the notion of just following an existing template is the antithesis of what Fly Nowhere represents. And for Venezia FC, in a place as iconic as Venice, nothing should be template." - Ted Philipakos, Fly Nowhere
It's our best-selling 2020/21 Venezia shirt, with 146 sold, and many of those went for £75 or more.
2021/22 Home (Kappa) - Gold
Kappa took over from Nike for Venezia's return to Serie A, and the home shirt was everywhere. Even the Daily Star called it "one of the best kits in football history". Black, with a gold crest, gold Kappa logos and a 'V' of small gold suns inspired by the city's gilded churches. Phil did not hold back:
"The 2021 Venezia home shirt is a generational design." - Phil Delves
And when he saw it on the pitch:
"Jumping back to the home shirt, the Venezia players looked like decorated, gilded statues on the pitch in the new design. It's unlike anything I've seen before in the football shirt world." - Phil Delves
We've never stocked one. It's the Venezia shirt we'd most like to get our hands on, and we're looking.
2021/22 Away (Kappa) - The Mosaic
The away went another way: a white shirt with a triangle pattern across the front. Phil explained where it came from:
"Taking inspiration from traditional Venetian mosaics found throughout the city's architecture, the triangles create a striking look especially in combination with a gradient fade that moves from orange, to black to green." - Phil Delves
Nani wore it in Serie A that season, and he looked like he was enjoying every minute. It's a quieter shirt than the gold home, and some collectors prefer it for exactly that reason.
Most Popular Venezia Shirts We've Sold
This covers 1,155 recorded shirts from October 2020 to February 2025. Almost all of them were brand-new Nike shirts from one stock buy, so this shows what we had to sell as much as what fans wanted.
| Shirt | Units sold |
|---|---|
| 2019/20 Nike home, sponsor-free | 604 |
| 2019/20 Nike home | 254 |
| 2020/21 Nike away | 146 |
| 2020/21 Nike home | 93 |
| 2019/20 Nike away, sponsor-free | 42 |
| 2019/20 Nike away | 15 |
| 1999/00 Kronos away (vintage) | 1 |
The 2019/20 home is 74% of everything we've sold for Venezia. Most of those went in two big drops in March and May 2021, when we dropped the sponsor-free version and Venezia were heading for Serie A.
Most Popular Venezia Shirts By Player
This one's easy. Not one of the 1,155 Venezia shirts we've sold had a name on the back. People bought Venezia for the colours, the wordmark and the story, not for a player. The closest we can get to a split is sponsor-free against sponsored:
| Version | Units sold |
|---|---|
| Sponsor-free | 646 |
| Sponsored | 508 |
| Vintage | 1 |
Who Orders The Most Venezia Shirts?
| Country | Units sold |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 764 |
| United States | 95 |
| Ireland | 25 |
| Germany | 19 |
| France | 15 |
| Spain, Netherlands | 13 each |
| Canada, Belgium | 8 each |
| Italy, South Korea, Malaysia | 7 each |
| Japan, Australia | 6 each |
| 23 other countries | 1 to 5 each |
Venezia shirts travel. Ours went to 38 countries. Two-thirds stayed in the UK, but they reached South Korea, Malaysia, Peru and Iceland. Only seven went to Italy. That's the thing about these shirts: you don't need to support Venezia to want one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Venezia shirt of all time?
Our pick is the 2020/21 Nike away, for the colour bands, the collar and the launch in Venice. Phil Delves would say the 2021/22 Kappa gold home. By sales, it's the 2019/20 Nike home: we've sold 858.
Who makes Venezia shirts?
Nike made Venezia's shirts in 2019/20 and 2020/21, the two seasons we sold. Kappa took over in 2021/22, for the club's return to Serie A.
Why are Venezia's colours orange, black and green?
The colours come from two clubs joining together. The original Venezia from the lagoon played in black and green, and the club from Mestre on the mainland played in orange. Put them together and you get arancioneroverde.
Why do Venezia shirts not have a sponsor?
On the 2020/21 shirts, the club's own stylised name sits where the sponsor would be. Some versions of the 2019/20 shirts were also sold without a sponsor, and those sponsor-free shirts are the ones we sold most.
Were Football Shirt Collective's Venezia shirts authentic?
Yes. Every Venezia shirt we've sold was brand-new, official Nike club stock with its tags on, plus one vintage Kronos away. We're rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Why Buy Your Venezia Shirt From Football Shirt Collective
Venezia's success has a downside: it's one of the most faked modern shirts out there, especially the Kappa gold home. Every shirt we sell is checked before it's listed and comes with plenty of photos, so you know exactly what you're getting. Every one carries our no-fakes guarantee, and we're rated Excellent on Trustpilot. Want to check a shirt yourself? Read our guides to spotting a fake Kappa or Nike shirt, or send it to our Fake Shirt Checker.
More Serie A? Read our countdowns of the best AC Milan, Inter and Juventus shirts.
