Italy 2000 Home (XL)

When Italy arrived at Euro 2000, their new Kappa shirt looked completely different from the oversized football jerseys of the previous decade. The Kombat was deliberately tight and hyper-elastic, a concept Kappa now describes as the shirt that revolutionised football kit design. 

There was a practical reason for the fit. Kappa developed its “stop-stopping” concept so the material could stretch when a defender grabbed a player, giving the attacker extra freedom while making shirt-pulling much easier for referees to spot. Kappa says the fabric could provide up to 30 cm of additional movement when stretched. 

The shirt also marked another change in Azzurri tradition. When Kappa took over in 1999, the FIGC allowed a technical supplier’s logo to appear on Italy’s senior match shirt for the first time, with Kappa keeping its Omini branding relatively discreet on the sleeves. 

Italy then gave the radical design an unforgettable tournament. They reached the Euro 2000 final and led France through Marco Delvecchio, only for Sylvain Wiltord to equalise deep into stoppage time. David Trezeguet’s extra-time golden goal ended Italy’s run 2-1. The trophy escaped them, but the shirt did not disappear: the skin-tight, elastic construction that looked radical in 2000 became a blueprint for the modern football kit.