While Germany and France have some killer new kits for Euro 2024, Copa América is where the real flair lies

The summer of 2024 will be football heaven. Not only will we see Europe’s elite battle it out at Euro 2024 (where France will inevitably win) but the Copa América will also be making lots of noise in the USA for its 48th edition – even before the possibility dawns on you that it’s Lionel Messi’s last international tournament.

With people rocking football shirts as streetwear more than ever – retro ones, limited drops, you name it – brands are once again in a kit arms race around the globe, bringing the nations into an inter-continental design war. The two superpowers have impressed: Nike has upped its game with more adventurous outings – including England’s beautiful purple and gold away kit (though best not mention the St George’s Cross on the home collar, apparently) – while Adidas continues its red hot form in Europe and the Americas with a series of shirts that wouldn’t look out of place in Berghain.

Germany’s 2024 away kit

 Alex de Mora

Argentina’s 2024 away shirt

 Alex de Mora

And though an honourable mention is required for Hummel for their continued partnership with Denmark – this year’s shirts have the names of all 1,535 clubs affiliated with the Danish Football Association printed inside – let’s be honest: when it comes to cool factor, one competition blows the other clear out of the water.

Mexico’s 2024 home kit

Peru’s 2024 home kit

Thanks to Adidas, Mexico consistently produces kits of future-grail quality, with both the home and away shirts (especially the home) joining the list alongside last year’s away effort, pretty much every home shirt worn by the nation in the ’90s and the golden era of Levi’s in the late ’70s. Peru has decided to become the darling of shirt collectors everywhere with one of the cleanest home kits the team has worn in years, and Argentina and Colombia’s away kits shouldn’t be slept on, either, as a couple of strong, blocky shirts with bold outlines.

“It was important for us to step back from what we do,” says Inigo Turner, design director at Adidas. “We took a perspective of 30 metres away from the pitch: how does that look? Is it visible, impactful? We want to have that impact from the terraces.

Where to buy the England Euro 2024 kit

By Robert Leedham

“Then closer up at 10 metres, if you’re a bit closer to the pitch, do you see the design elements, the stories? And then we have zero metres, which is really important. When you get it in your hands, you feel that this is a really beautiful product.”

Nike isn’t far behind, thanks to the beautiful texture of its own player-issue kits that enhances the slightly less zany designs on shirts like USA away. There’s a dignified air to the Swoosh’s designs this year, seen especially in the European kits (looking at you, France, England and Norway), but also on show at the Copa América, where Brazil’s home shirt is potentially the best of the bunch. It’s hard to get the canary yellow of the Seleção too wrong, but 2024’s is bang on point.

Brazil’s 2024 home kit

France’s 2024 home kit

Of course, a nice shirt wins no prizes – we saw that last year at the Women’s World Cup. But doing well in a competition can elevate a shirt from a temporary favourite to a permanent cultural touchstone. Just think of England’s red 1966 shirt: the Three Lions originally wore blue as their change kit, but swapped to red when home and away clashed with Argentina’s blue and white. A few years and a World Cup win later, that shirt is synonymous with the men’s team’s only major international win. And there’s talk of Nike re-releasing Brazil’s famous shirt from the late ’90s, when the last era of proper joga bonito was at its peak.

Will we see a run from Mexico to match their winning shirts? Will Leo Messi and Argentina continue their streak of championships in a kit fit for the occasion? And can Brazil play with the freedom their shirt demands? Time will tell, but one thing’s for sure: if you’re looking for your next football hipster shirt, go across the Atlantic.