A Look At The Nike 2023 Federation Kits For Women's Teams
After adidas roundly broke Football Twitter with their crop of national team kits for the Women’s World Cup, it was fair to say that Nike was going to have a pretty high bar to clear. This, after all, is the first Women’s World Cup where it feels like kit culture is a fundamental part of the female game, and with almost every team now boasting kits entirely unique from their male counterparts, we’re well and truly in an era where women’s kits are every bit as collectable and desirable as those rocked by the men. In some cases, even more so.
So what has the swoosh, this year responsible for the kits of 13 of the tournament’s 32 entrants, delivered? Overall, it’s a mixture of classic designs (a new template that throws back to the early 2000s Total 90 kits features throughout), retro throwbacks and new-age prints, with Nike’s new Dri-Fit ADV material imbuing many shirts with distinctive knit patterns. As a whole, they’re perhaps not as cohesive as the nature-inspired pack of away shirts that adidas revealed to much acclaim, but on their individual merits, they’re every bit as eye catching. Here are all the kits to look forward to.
Australia
Starting, of course, with our very own golden girls and the co-hosts. The home shirt is classic and refined, set off with a subtle shaded acrylic pour and marbling pattern that was created by hand. The real winner, however, is the gorgeous turquoise away kit that inverts the colours of the Socceroos’ away to stunning effect.
Brazil
Nike have stuck with the brighter shade of yellow, along with the royal blue/neon green colour combo debuted at Qatar last year, for Brazil’s 2023 shirts. Rather than the nation’s fauna providing a design motif for the shirts, however, Nike have looked to the plant life of the amazon. A lime green leaf pattern adorns the shoulders of the away shirt, while the knit pattern of the home is also reminiscent of tropical foliage.
Canada
It’s hard to go wrong with the classic red, black and white that has become synonymous with Canadian kits over the years. Nike have kept things simple with the away shirt, allowing the geometric maple leaf pattern of the home to really stand out on its own.
China
Subtlety is the prevailing theme throughout China’s kits this year, which already stand out thanks to the traditional red and bright yellow colourway that, aside from being quintessentially Chinese, is surprisingly rare in world football. The home shirt is the clear winner here, with a woven knit pattern inspired by the ancient Xiangyun symbol - lucky clouds that are associated with good luck and impending fortune.
England
The European champions enter the tournament as perhaps the world’s most in-form team, and might have the best kit of the entire tournament in the form of their ‘90s-inspired sky blue away. The home shirt is a little more simple, taking the aforementioned Total 90 template and dressing it in a regal combination of white and royal blue.
France
France are as synonymous with instant-classic World Cup kits as they are with croissants and apathetic locals, and this year is no exception. Orphism, an art movement popularized in the 1920s when the French Women’s team debuted, is the inspiration for the kits patterns, while Nike have used slightly bolder shades of blue and lilac across both the home and away than the deep navy we’ve seen in their men’s kits.
South Korea
Bright pops of evocative colour are what set Korea’s otherwise fairly simple kits apart this year. The away has a side split panel of red and blue that instantly brings to mind the country’s flag (the colour blocking is also a nod to Korea’s fashion scene), while the playful pink that leaps off the primarily red home kit evokes the neon-soaked streets of the nation’s capital.
Netherlands
A white texture running the Oranje’s home kit this year instantly identifies it as a thematic descendent of the iconic Cruyff kit of ‘88. The away kit is a more playful number, a modern geometric pattern of the Netherlands’ flag colours leaping off a background of navy blue.
New Zealand
The primary motif of the Silver Ferns’ home kit to celebrate their home World Cup? You guessed it: Silver Ferns, which run across the black home kit with a big, bold spray paint effect. The away kit is simple in nature, but thanks to a big dose of electric blue, is also a welcome step away from the traditional all-white kits that normally serve as New Zealands’ away garb.
Nigeria
Bright green makes a welcome return to Nigeria’s home kit, combining with the Total 90 template to create something so evocative of 2002 you can practically picture Jay Jay Okocha stepping out onto the pitch in it right now. In a fashion we’ve now come to expect of Nigeria’s kits in the modern era, the away plays with neon-soaked hues and traditional local prints to create a fusion of the country’s old and new fashions.
Norway
Perhaps the most simple, yet classy, pair of kits in the range this year. Even so, it’s hard to go wrong with that combination of red, regal blue and white, and there’s just something effortlessly tasteful about that Norwegian logo.
Portugal
A brighter shade of red adds a youthful air to the otherwise simple and elegant home kit that the Portuguese will don this year. The away strip, however, is a far more playful affair, working the traditional green and red into a bespoke pattern inspired by the country’s famous calçada Portuguesa designs.
United States
Finally, we come to the reigning champs, The USWNT was really the first team to get the bespoke kit treatment from Nike in contrast to the mens, and this year’s effort is as eye-catching as ever. On the home, the oh-so-patriotic red white and blue is remixed into a paint splash design inspired by the abstract expressionist movement that was birthed out of US cities in the 1940s, while the knit-effect blue away kit is offset with cuffs in a bright red stars-and-stripes motif.
Nike have smashed it out of the park. What's your favourite?
Keen on any of the national teams listed above? Shop our wide range of jerseys for the major tournament in stores or online at ultrafootball.com now.
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